•e  c  c  • 

".V 


JOSEPH   PULITZER 

(In    Memoriam) 

Whose    bequest    to    the    Philharmonic    Society    Has    Endeared    His    Name    in    Musical 

History 


THE  STAGE 

IN  THE 

TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


THIRD  VOLUME 

By 
ROBERT  GRAU 

Author  of 

"The  Business  Man  in  the  Amusement  World" 
'Forty  Years  Observation  of  Music  and  the  Drama" 
Etc.,  Etc. 

With  Reproductions  of  Photos  and  Other 
Interesting  Originals 


BROADWAY      PUBLISHING      CO. 

835  Broadway    -   New  York 
1912 


Copyrighted,  1912 

by 
Mrs.  Mable  Grau  < 


To  My  Dear  Wife 

and  to 

My  Grandchildren 

DONALD  and  NORMAN  DAVIS 

This  Volume  is  Dedicated 


M20693 


^AUTHOR'S  NOTE 

What  may  appear  to  be  an  incongruity  is  the  fact 
that  many  famous  persons  in  the  stage  calling  are 
either  omitted  or  but  briefly  included  in  the  present 
volume.  This  the  author  wishes  to  explain  as  due 
to  the  part  these  ladies  and  gentlemen  played  in  the 
previous  volumes. 

The  same  explanation  applies  to  the  illustrations, 
many  whose  portraits  would  seem  appropriate  in 
the  newer  work  were  included  in  the  earlier  issues 
and  to  repeat  these  would  be  unfair  to  those  who 
possess  the  author's  three  works. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  chapter  devoted  to  prom- 
inent players  and  musicians  who  have  passed  away 
since  the  issue  of  the  last  volume. 

ROBERT  GRAU 

Mt.  Fernon,  New  York. 

'April,  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Twelve, 


JOHN  JACOB   ASTOR 

(In    Memoriam) 

Whose    Public    Spirit    Aided    Notably    in    the    Uplift    of    Music    and 
the    Drama 


Synopsis  of  Chapters 

CHAPTER  I. 
THE  MANAGER  AND  THE  PRODUCER. 

The  amusement  field  in  the  second  decade  of  the 
Twentieth  Century — Klaw  and  Erlanger's  large  holdings 
• — The  Shuberts'  expansion — Liebler  and  Company's 
need  for  theatres  of  their  own — Cohan  and  Harris,  a 
firm  of  great  achievement — The  late  Henry  B.  Harris* 
meteoric  rise — Wagenhals  and  Kemper's  record  at  the 
Astor  Theatre — William  A.  Brady  indefatigable  show- 
man— Henry  W.  Savage,  the  untheatrical  manager — 
Daniel  V.  Arthur — Lew  Fields  and  Joseph  Weber  as 
separate  producers — The  two  come  together  again  and 
enjoy  a  prosperous  vogue — Charles  Frohman's  great  ac- 
tivity— His  ill  luck  with  foreign  plays — handicapped  by 
his  illness — Mr.  Frohman's  operations  show  no  curtail- 
ment— Daniel  Frohman  gradually  confining  his  efforts 
to  great  theatrical  charities  tfnd  public  spirited  work — 
Will  he  eventually  become  the  artistic  director  of  the 
New  Theatre — The  latter  enterprise  by  no  means  aban- 
doned— Choice  of  director  lies  between  the  Elder  Froh- 
man and  George  C.  Tyler — How  Charles  Dillingham 
came  to  leave  the  New  York  Sun  to  become  a  theatrical 
agent;  his  reply  to  Charles  A.  Dana — Elsie  Janis  likely 
to  shine  as  a  distinctly  dramatic  star  shortly — Werba 
and  Luescher  resume  partnership  and  score  several  not- 
able successes — Frederick  C.  Whitney's  extensive  opera- 
tions in  light  opera  here  and  abroad — George  W.  Leder- 
er's  return  to  the  New  York  "Rialto"  a  ten  strike  with 
"Madame  Sherry"— Al  H.  Woods—From  King  of  Melo- 

vii 


drama  to  impresario — Julian  Eltinge's  conquest  of  a  diffi- 
cult test — Some  specimen  box  office  statements — David 
Belasco,  producer  of  successes  only — Frederic  Thomp- 
son not  a  conspicuous  figure  at  this  time — "Bob"  Hil- 
liard's  great  popularity — Edward  D.  Price's  good  work — 
Joseph  M.  Gaite's  meritorious  productions  of  "The  En- 
chantress" and  "Thais"  and  the  precedent  he  established 
with  "Three  Twins" — Comstock  and  Gest  and  their  hold- 
ings— The  Folies  Bergeres  not  a  real  fiasco;  will  be  re- 
vived soon  profitably — Madame  Simone's  experience  in 
America  like  Rejane's — George  Arliss'  remarkable  run 
with  "Disraeli" — The  Garden  of  Allah  has  many  weeks 
where  gross  receipts  exceeded  $25,000 — The  "intimate 
theatre"  movement,  and  its  relation  to  the  new  New 
Theatre — The  Irish  and  Scotch  players — Will  Madison 
Garden  really  pass  ? 1-33 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  GRAND  OPERA  SITUATION. 

^  congestion  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House — 
Gatti-Casazza's  encouragement  to  the  native  composer 
and  librettist — "Mona"  and  "Natoma"  a  great  advance 
for  opera  in  English — What  the  phonograph  yields  Ca- 
ruso and  Tetrazzini — The  "budget"  of  an  opera  house — 
Dividends  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,  in  the 
Grau  regime  with  a  subscription  one-tenth  what  it  is  to- 
day— When  dividends  are  impossible — The  Riccordis  of 
Milan  and  their  monopoly — Herr  Dippel's  vigorous 
stand — Mr.  De  Koven's  mistake — The  Caruso  situation 
and  the  evils  of  the  "star"  system;  the  public  to  blame, 
for  it  prefers  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  a  great  cele- 
brity rather  than  witness  an  ensemble  performance — 
Oscar  Hammerstein  in  London — Will  he  "come  back"? 

-The  desertions  from  the  theatrical  syndicate  not  per- 
manent— Liebler  and  Company  and  several  other  pro- 
ducers return  to  the  older  booking  institution— Three 
important  heads  of  large  theatre  circuits  return  to  Klaw 

and  Erlanger  and  their  allies 34-44: 

viii 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  VAUDEVILLE  SITUATION. 

The  tremendous  vogue  of  popular  priced  vaudeville; 
Marcus  Loew  imperial  showman — How  the  motion  pic- 
ture craze  has  created  many  new  play-goers — The  sit- 
uation in  the  one  night  stands  deplorable — The  theatrical 
business  man  of  modern  times  being  without  training 
has  not  been  able  to  compete  with  the  old-time  showman 
— The  booking  agent  a  vigorous  figure — What  he  earns 
and  the  conditions  he  has  to  meet,  lack  of  expert  service 
creates  a  demand  for  good  advance  agents — Pat  Casey's 
meteoric  rise — Agents  who  own  their  own  homes,  yachts 
and  have  automobiles — There  are  fewer  producers  to-day 
than  at  any  time  in  the  last  twenty-five  years — The  silent 
drama  changes  the  theatrical  map — A  hard  luck  banquet 
at  the  Lambs  Club,  and  the  reason  for  it — The  "One-man 
orchestra" — Photo-play  producers  spending  from  $50,- 
000  to  $200,000  on  special  productions— Madame  Bern- 
hardt  receives  $30,000  to  pose  before  the  camera  in 
"Camille" — Science  encroaching  on  the  realm  of  the 
players — The  best  of  the  latter  now  seeking  successfully 
engagements  in  the  film  studios — Fourteen  Frohman 
players  in  the  Vitagraph  studio — Will  the  stars  in  this 
country  emulate  Bernhardt  and  Rejane — The  "speaking 
picture"  on  the  horizon 45-73 

CHAPTER  IV. 

"The  twenty  greatest"  in  music  and  the  drama — The 
concert  field — Prosperity  in  the  musical  world  has  abound- 
ed even  in  the  last  two  years  of  adversity  elsewhere — 
Superior  concert  management  a  contributing  cause — 
What  R.  E.  Johnston  thinks  of  the  public  taste 74-84 

CHAPTER  V. 

Demand  for  scenarios  in  the  film  industry — A  genius 
discovered  in  Emmett  Campbell  Hall — Schools  to  teach 

ix 


scenario  writing — Something  about  the  different  pro- 
ducers of  photo-plays— Gus  Hill  makes  another  fortune 
with  his  Mutt  and  Jeff  companies— How  the  production 
of  "Vera  Violetta"  solved  the  problems  of  the  Winter 
Garden  and  to  whom  credit  is  due — Will  this  group  of 
young  men  control  the  theatre  of  to-morrow  ?— Sons 
and  relatives  of  our  present  day  magnates  well  prepared 
for  the  day  when  they  will  rule 85-99- 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A  theatrical  lumber  yard  that  occupies  the  most  valu- 
able site  in  the  theatre  zone  of  New  York — Betterment 
of  lighting  conditions  in  playhouses — The  National  X- 
Ray  reflector — The  play-going  public  never  hears  of 
John  and  Anton  Kliegl,  yet  they  are  the  men  who  solve 
the  most  intricate  mechanical  problems  of  the  stage — 
Birth  of  the  phonograph — Why  dramatic  stars  have  not 
followed  the  precedent  established  by  the  world's  greatest 
singers — Who  is  John  Richard  Clancy? — A  Syracuse 
institution  has  proven  a  blessing  to  the  stage  producer — 
The  Brush  electric  light  system  of  Detroit  which  Charles 
A.  Strelinger  heads — The  motion  picture  screen  and 
its  inventor — Great  advance  in  theatre  seating — Luxur- 
ious opera  chairs  now  replace  the  old  time  benches — The 
evolution  created  by  the  Columbia  Phonograph  Com- 
pany and  its  effect  on  the  living  singer  and  musician. 

100-118 

CHAPTER  VII. 

S.  Lubin,  pioneer  of  the  film  industry,  his  achieve- 
ments— Lyman  H.  Howe  the  first  to  use  motion  pictures 
with  travelogues,  his  interesting  experiments — The  Eclair 
Film  Company  and  its  enviable  record  here  and  abroad — 
George  K.  Spoor  head  of  the  Essanay  Film  Co. — Nicho- 
las Power  foremost  inventor  of  projecting  machines  for 
the  silent  drama — The  Champion  Film  Company — Ten 
million  new  play-goers  created  through  the  "motion  pic- 
ture habit" — A  visit  to  the  theatres  of  cinematography — 


Advent  of  the  Kinemacolor  Company — An  ideal  photo* 
playhouse  on  the  board  walk  at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J. — • 
How  it  is  conducted  by  Salo  Ansbach — The  American 
Film  Company  and  their  compelling  Western  picture- 
plays — Does  the  patron  of  the  photo-play  prefer  serious 
or  comedy  subjects? — Pantomime  a  nearly  lost  art,  a  po- 
tent factor  again — The  importance  of  sound  effects  to 
achieve  realism  on  the  screen — What  Elbert  Hubbard 
said  about  William  N.  Selig,  the  great  Western  film 
magnate 119-141 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Keith,  the  man  who  changed  the 
theatrical  map  and  created  the  most  lucrative  line  of  en- 
deavor in  the  history  of  public  entertaining — Jacob  Litt, 
the  first  theatrical  manager  to  become  a  millionaire — His 
energy  his  undoing,  causing  his  demise  in  the  prime  of 
life — The  "food"  theatre  likely  to  be  permanent  says 
Louis  Martin  the  leading  caterer  whose  cabaret  enter- 
tainments are  modeled  on  the  ideas  of  Jules  Jouye  of 
Paris — Alexander  Pantages,  typical  Western  showman, 
who  in  a  single  decade  has  created  a  chain  of  vaude- 
ville theatres,  estimated  to  be  worth  five  million  dollars — • 
The  controlling  spirit  of  the  United  Booking  offices — 
Edward  F.  Albee,  a  man  who  acts  rather  than  talks,  and 
whose  greatest  accomplishment  is  a  policy  to  keep  out 
of  print — Secrecy  maintained  always  until  the  aim  is 
achieved,  then  publicity  of  the  simplest  description  is 
allowed — How  Albee  does  his  greatest  work — A  tribute 
to  a  Twentieth  Century  business  man  who  brought  sys- 
tem and  rectitude  to  a  once  despised  calling — A  publisher 
with  true  public  spirit  who  encourages  native  composers 
— Leo  Fiest  and  the  American  grand  opera  "Paoletta"  a 
work  yet  to  be  heard  in  New  York 142-157 

CHAPTER  IX. 

How  an  aggressive  red  headed  Irishman  with  the  grit 
and  determination  of  his  race  prevented  the  big  vaude- 
ville syndicate  from  confessing  defeat — Daniel  F.  Hen- 

xi 


nessy  had  faith  and  his  optimism  finally  prevailed — The 
theatrical  lawyer — Pasquale  Amato  the  distinguished 
baritone,  a  singer  of  the  intellectual  type — Albert  Spald- 
ing's  great  triumphs  abroad — The  Victor  phonograph  in 
the  public  schools — A  movement  of  vital  import — Va- 
lerie Bergere,  vaudeville's  dramatic  queen — William  J. 
Davis  whose  managerial  career  uncovers  much  theatrical 
history  and  reveals  a  figure  of  importance  for  nearly  four 
decades 158-169 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Stage  of  to-morrow — Who  will  perpetuate  the 
classics  of  the  theatre? — From  a  box  office  viewpoint — 
What  the  public  pays  for — What  it  wants  to  see — Record 
receipts,  Patti  still  the  highest  paid  artist  in  the  world's 
history — Sarah  Bernhardt  holds  the  record  for  the  larg- 
est receipts  outside  of  opera — "The  Old  Homestead"  ran 
for  thirty-five  years  and  "Ben  Hur"  likely  to  duplicate 
its  record — An  age  of  public  spirit  in  the  artistic  world — 
The  benefactions  of  Messrs.  Stotesbury,  Schwab,  Kahn, 
Mackay,  Jordan,  Higginson,  Frick  and  the  late  John 
Jacob  Astor — The  career  of  Leo  Ornstein  launched 
through  a  wave  of  generosity-*-How  Commodore  Bene- 
dict and  Doctor  Bowman  of  Greenwich,  Conn.,  opened  up 
a  career  for  an  employee  of  the  last-named  gentleman — 
William  K.  Vanderbilt  the  principal  investor  in  the  New 
Theatre  enterprise  and  still  willing  to  sustain  it — The 
drama  leagues  a  vital  influence  in  the  progress  of  the 
stage — The  janitor-manager  now  replaced  by  the  local 
impresario  and  a  worthy  figure  is  he — Mabel  Wilber  the 
American  Aimee — Lilly  Dorn,  a  Vienna  prima  donna, 
who  is  carrying  all  before  her  on  the  Pacific  coast — The 
part  California  has  played  in  theatrical  progress — Be- 
lasco,  Brady  and  Myerfeld  a  trio  from  the  Golden  Gate 
who  have  achieved  their  greatest  aims 170-193 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Theatres  of  San  Francisco — The  progress  of  a  half 
century — Los  Angeles  and  its  stock  companies — The 

xii 


amazing  record  achieved  in  a  city  of  350,000  inhabitants 
— Los  Angeles  regarded  as  the  third  dramatic  and  mus- 
ical centre  of  this  country — The  Symphony  Orchestras 
of  California,  a  truly  remarkable  musical  regime — Music 
is  a  leading  study  in  Los  Angeles  public  schools — The 
Saturday  Club  of  Sacramento — A  chapter  anent  the  up- 
lift in  music  in  this  great  Californian  institution — The 
sentiments  of  the  club  empressed  in  poetry — The  activi- 
ties of  L.  E.  Behymer  of  Los  Angeles,  America's  most 
artistic  and  unselfish  impresario  to  whom  the  musical 
public  of  the  great  northwest  look  for  their  great  artistic 
events — California  managers  of  to-day — John  Cort's  in- 
fluence in  the  West — Oliver  Morosco,  dean  of  producers. 

194-217 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  stage  as  a  theme  for  literature — An  era  of  writ- 
ing at  hand  with  the  nations  greatest  stage  celebrities 
contributing  to  the  literature  of  the  world — Earnings  of 
well-known  critics,  compared  with  the  struggles  of  their 
predecessors  of  an  earlier  period — Signed  articles  by 
popular  stage  idols  in  great  demand  by  publishers  of 
magazines  and  periodicals — F.  T.  Montgomery,  a  south- 
ern manager,  who  has  dignified  the  motion  picture  indus- 
try, and  erected  palatial  theatres  in  a  half  dozen  cities 
for  the  presentation  of  photo-plays — Robert  W.  Kiewert 
inventor — Canada  now  an  important  centre  in  stage  mat- 
ters— The  great  achievement  of  M.  Jeanotte  who  has 
given  Montreal  a  permanent  grand  opera  company  that 
compares  favorably  with  those  in  American  cities — 
Other  prominent  musical  figures  in  the  dominion — In- 
genious theatrical  advertising,  yet  the  showman  is  far 
behind  his  commercial  colleagues  in  inventing  compelling 
devices  to  attract  public  attention — The  scenic  artist  at 
last  coming  into  his  own — The  public  now  realizes  that 
there  are  others  besides  the  actor  and  the  author  to 
merit  applause — Opera  in  English  not  an  experiment — 
Such  impresarios  as  Henry  W.  Savage  and  the  Messrs. 
Aborn  have  prospered  with  opera  in  the  vernacular  for 
many  years — Will  the  Manhattan  Opera  House  and  the 

xiii 


CentuFy  Theatre  revert  to  operatic  use  in  another  year? 
— The  absence  of  Oscar  Hammerstein  greatly  to  be  re- 
gretted— The  author's  prophesy  as  to  the  abolishment  of 
the  street  ticket  speculator  fulfilled,  still  the  public  con- 
tinue to  pay  a  premium  for  its  seats 218-236 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

John  W.  Considine  of  Seattle,  an  example  of  Western 
enterprise — How  he  and  Senator  Timothy  P.  Sullivan 
have  built  up  a  tremendous  industry  that  is  about  to  as- 
sume a  national  significance — J.  H.  Hallberg  an  inventor 
who  has  helped  to  raise  the  level  of  the  motion  picture 
output — Is  Patti's  successor  to  be  recorded  in  Luisa  Tet- 
razzini? — A  comparison  of  the  careers  of  the  two  divas 
shows  every  indication  of  the  younger  singer's  ultimate 
reign  as  queen  of  song — The  Western  managerial  firm 
of  Rowland  and  Clifford  who  amassed  a  fortune  with 
"The  Rosary,"  a  play  that  was  passed  up  by  New 
York's  playgoers — A  unique  institution  is  the  motion  pic- 
ture sales  and  distributing  company,  which  markets  the 
product  of  "the  independents"  and  has  survived  in  its 
battle  with  the  so-called  motion  picture  "trust" — Evolu- 
tion of  the  theatre  ticket — The  progress  since  cards  of 
admission  were  used  in  the  Roman  coliseum  in  the  Chris- 
tian era — Incongruities  in  moving  pictures — The  remark- 
able triumph  of  Felice  Lyne  recalls  the  sensational  suc- 
cess of  Etelka  Gerster  who  rose  to  fame  in  a  night — P. 
A.  Powers,  the  Jeremiah  of  the  film  industry — Edwin 
S.  Porter,  the  Belasco  of  photo-play  producers — Herbert 
Miles  and  the  Republic  Film  Co. — The  Monopol  Film 
Co.  who  release  the  output  of  the  Milano  Company  of 
Italy,  an  institution  that  thinks  nothing  of  spending 
$150,000  to  $200,000  on  a  single  production,  "Dantes  In- 
ferno" and  "Odyssey"  involving  such  outlay — The  Ma- 
jestic Film  Co.  a  1911  recruit  in  the  film  world. 

237-260 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  pJea  for  opera  comique — The  illustrated  song — The 
stars  of  picturedom— G.  M.  Anderson  the  most  photo- 

xiv 


graphed  actor  in  the  world,  also  one  of  the  most  popular 
and  surely  one  of  the  richest ;  King  Baggott,  a  close  sec- 
ond, and  Mary  Pickford  is  the  "our  Mary"  of  the  silent 
drama — Beatrice  Horsbrugh,  English  violiniste,  pupil  of 
Caesare  Thompson,  coming  to  America  for  a  concert 
tour — J.  J.  Murdock  unique  personality  of  modern  vau- 
deville— Prince  of  peacemakers  and  a  man  who  just  does 
things,  a  career  worthy  of  emulation — The  National 
Association  of  Producing  Managers,  its  aims  and 
achievements — A  body  of  managers  who  have  accomp- 
lished many  great  reforms  and  practically  ended  play 
piracy — William  A.  Brady  the  righting  force  always. 

261-274 

CHAPTER  XV. 

William  C.  Carl,  his  estiminable  career  as  organist — 
The  Wisconsin  dramatic  society — Gus  Sun,  another 
Western  vaudeville  magnate — Phillip  F.  Nash  presiding 
genius  of  the  United  Booking  offices  and  his  two  tal- 
ented daughter,  Mary  and  Florence,  who  in  the  past 
year  have  reached  a  stellar  status  through  sheer  merit — 
Walter  F.  Keefe,  influential  in  vaudeville  in  Chicago  and 
the  West — The  lesson  to  be  derived  from  Orville  Har- 
rold's  great  triumph  in  London — An  incentive  for  Amer- 
ican singers— Are  we  to  have  another  Offenbach  craze? 
— The  revival  of  "La  Belle  Helene"  all  over  the  world 
recalls  when  the  father  of  Opera  Bouffe,  came  to  Ameri- 
ca in  1876  and  failed  because  the  public  expected  him  to 
dance  the  "can  can"  while  conducting  his  entrancing 
scores. — The  Simplex  projecting  machine — Richard  G. 
Hollaman's  educational  work  in  motion  pictures — How 
motion  pictures  are  used  to  teach  employees — The  Gau- 
mont  Co.  of  Paris  and  America — Advent  of  Oliver  Mo- 
rosco  of  Los  Angeles  as  a  producer  in  the  East — Lewis 
Waller  to  produce  plays  in  this  country  regularly. 

275-294 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  American  tour  of  Arthur  Nikisch  and  the  Lon- 

xv 


don  Symphony  Orchestra — William  Morris  now  an  im- 
presario; his  manipulation  of  the  Sirota  tour — Martin 
Beck  and  his  new  Palace  Theatre  means  two  dollars  a 
seat  vaudeville  provided  a  "deal"  is  not  made  to  prevent 
the  consummation  of  Mr.  Becks  elaborate  plans — The 
Coburn  players — The  Kalem  Company  who  have  perpet- 
uated the  glories  of  the  Irish  drama  on  the  screen — If 
pantomine  is  to  be  revived  where  are  we  going  to  get 
our  clowns,  pantaloons,  harlequins  and  columbines 
from? — Evolution  of  the  pipe  organ — The  one-man  or- 
chestra will  prevail  in  hundreds  of  theatres  shortly  in 
place  of  musical  bodies — The  great  invention  of  Robt. 
Hope-Jones — Marshall  P.  Wilder  now  a  photo-player — 
Henry  Miller  successful  star,  manager  and  stage  direc- 
tor— Ruth  Chatterton  an  actress  of  great  promise — Tre- 
mendous earnings  of  playwrights — William  A.  Brady's 
persistency — Phillip  H.  Bartholomae  a  young  playwright 
to  be  reckoned  with — George  Broadhurst's  large  income 
from  "Bought  and  Paid  For" — Twelve  new  theatres  to 
be  dedicated  in  1912,  but  to  offset  this  addition,  several 
Broadway  theatres  will  revert  to  the  camera  man — Play- 
houses below  Thirty-sixth  street  appear  to  be  doomed — 
Many  new  theatres  exclusively  devoted  to  the  silent 
drama  are  being  erected  in  New  York — The  Berrywood 
piano-player  replacing  orchestras  in  amusement  resorts. 
Lee  Keedick,  manager  for  lectures  and  noted  speakers 
has  built  up  a  large  industry  as  has  also  William  B.  Fea- 
kins  in  the  same  field — Joseph  Pulitzer's  bequest  to  the 
Philharmonic  Society — John  Wanamaker's  encourage- 
ment to  musicians  in  his  native  state 295-314 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

Tributes  to  celebrities  who  have  passed  on — Denman 
Thompson's  struggle  to  uplift  the  character  of  Uncle 
Joshua — Complete  record  of  the  career  of  player  and 
character  during  the  thirty-five  years  of  their  potency — 

xvi 


The  passing  of  Henry  Lee,  great  actor,  whose  life  work 
was  handicapped  through  identifying  himself  with  a 
unique  vaudeville  specialty,  died  in  poverty  and  of  a 
broken  heart — Edward  Harrigan's  popularity  with  the 
public  lasted  long  after  he  was  able  to  provide  successful 
plays — The  recipe  he  left  behind  for  the  benefit  of  mod- 
ern writers  may  well  be  acted  upon — Jessie  Bartlett 
Davis'  death  left  a  vacancy  in  the  operatic  field  that  may 
never  be  filled — The  splendid  record  of  the  late  Julian 
Edwards  who  averaged  one  successful  opera  in  each  of 
the  fifteen  years  of  his  activity;  died  in  harness  and 
while  in  his  zenith,  a  composer  who  would  to-day  greatly 
aid  the  "opera  in  English"  movement — "From  the  speak- 
ing stage  to  the  silent  drama" — Autobiography  of  the 
Vitagraph  girl"  Florence  E.  Turner,  in  which  the  reader 
is  informed  of  some  of  the  risks  and  hardships  that  con- 
front the  aspirant  for  fame  in  the  photo-play  industry — 
"The  grand  old  man  of  comic  opera,"  to  write  his  me- 
moirs— Something  about  the  volume  to  come  from  the 
pen  of  Henry  Clay  Barnabee 315-343 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  electrical  side  of  the  theatre 344-350 

POST  SCRIPT 
Vaudeville  Situation  Clarified 351-360 

ADDENDA. 

Since  the  present  volume  reached  the  final  presses  the 
following  important  occurrences  and  changes  should  be 
recorded  : 

Al  H.  Woods,  on  returning  from  his  European  trip  in 
'May,  1912,  announced  that  he  had  secured  the  American 
rights  to  the  moving  pictures  of  Max  Reinhardt's  spec- 

xvii 


tacle,  "The  Miracle."  This  announcement  is  significant 
in  that  it  verifies  the  contention  of  the  author  that  the 
leading  theatrical  managers  of  this  country  are  recog- 
nizing the  importance  of  the  silent  drama,  and  propose 
to  affiliate  themselves  with  the  important  factors  in  that 
field.  The  motion  pictures  of  "The  Miracle"  are  con- 
trolled by  Joseph  Menchen,  a  young  electrical  engineer, 
whom  the  writer  discovered  in  Kansas  City  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  who  came  to  New  York  at  that  time,  a  mere 
boy,  without  friends  or  capital;  but  he  soon  became  a 
factor  and  was  the  first  to  demonstrate  the  great  part 
that  electricity  was  to  play  in  the  field  of  the  theatre. 

The  Messrs.  Sj/hubert  have  secured  the  American 
rights  for  the  Cinoplasticon,  a  device  for  the  perfect 
presentation  of  motion  pictures  without  flicker.  The 
illusion  in  the  Cinoplasticon  lies  in  the  revelation  of  the 
players  precisely  as  on  the  speaking  stage,  showing  the 
figures  in  perfect  contour. 

The  Edison  "speaking"  pictures  have  been  completed, 
and  will  be  exhibited  in  the  Fall  all  over  the  country. 
Harry  Furniss,  the  famous  London  artist,  came  hither 
for  this  great  undertaking,  and  before  returning  home 
expressed  himself  as  confident  that  the  "speaking  pic- 
tures" would  create  a  sensation. 

At  New  York's  ultra  swell  Lyceum  Theatre,  motion 
pictures  of  Paul  J.  Rainey's  African  Hunt  are  attract- 
ing the  largest  and  most  fashionable  crowds  seen  at  that 
theatre  for  more  than  a  year. 

The  Herald  Square,  Joe  Weber's  and  Garden  Theatres 
have  reverted  to  the  silent  drama,  thus  making  the  num- 
ber of  playhouses  in  Greater  New  York  to  become  so 
transformed  twenty-eight,  and  the  end  is  not  yet  recorded. 

Revivals  of  "Robin  Hood"  and  "Patience"  at  the  New 
Amsterdam  and  Lyric  Theatres  were  successful,  notably 
so  in  the  former  instance,  resulting  in  the  permanency 
of  the  De  Koven  Opera  Comique  Co.  and  the  practical 
certainty  that  one  of  New  York's  larger  opera  houses 
will  soon  house  this  organization. 

The  Aborn  Opera  Company,  in  its  production  of 
"Hansel  and  Gretal,"  at  the  Broadway  Theatre  in  May, 
1912,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  critics  to  the  fact 
so  often  stated  by  the  writer,  to  the  effect  that  opera  in 

xviii 


English  does  not  mean  native  grand  opera,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  Messrs.  De  Koven  and  Aborn  should  hasten  the 
day  when  organizations  such  as  were  "The  Bostonians" 
and  the  Clara  Louise  Kellogg  Company  will  be  perma- 
nently revived. 

The  purchase  of  Percy  Williams'  circuit  of  high-grade 
vaudeville  theatres  by  B.  F.  Keith,  and  in  which  the 
latter  is  associated  with  several  of  the  larger  vaudeville 
interests,  including  Messrs.  Myerfeld  and  Beck,  Max 
Anderson,  M.  Shea,  J.  H.  Moore  and  others,  means  the 
indefinite  postponement  of  the  Orpheum  Circuit  plans  to 
extend  its  operations  east  of  Chicago.  No  victory  was 
achieved  on  any  side.  Messrs.  Keith  and  Beck  have  at- 
tained their  goal  in  a  complete  clarification  of  the  vaude- 
ville situation. 

During  the  Summer  season  of  1912  a  general  revival 
of  old-time  comic  opera  is  imminent  all  over  the  country. 
The  leader  of  this  movement  is  Miss  Maud  Daniell,  for 
many  years  directress  of  the  Wilbur  Opera  Company 
and  an  expert  organizer.  Miss  Daniell  is  associated  with 
C.  E.  Bray  of  Chicago  in  this  plan.  One  organization 
began  its  campaign  in  the  historic  Spanish  Fort  Opera 
House  at  New  Orleans  in  May,  1912,  with  "La  Mas- 
cotte." 

Emulating  the  procedure  of  Madames  Bernhardt  and 
Rejane,  Nat  C.  Goodwin  has  capitulated  to  the  impor- 
tunities of  the  camera  man  and  will  present  in  June, 
1912,  a  filmed  production  of  "Oliver  Twist/'  with  him- 
self as  Fagin,  in  motion  picture  theatres,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Spanuth,  head  of  the  General  Publicity  and 
Sales  Company,  an  organization  that  has  adopted  a 
policy  of  presenting  well-known  stars  in  the  field  of 
cinematography. 

The  Supreme  Court  decision  on  May  11,  1912,  con- 
firmed that  of  the  lower  court  in  awarding  possession  of 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New  York  City,  to  F.  F. 
Proctor  for  the  four  years  still  remaining  of  his  lease. 
Mr.  Keith  has  appealed  to  the  highest  courts,  and  a  final 
decision  is  expected  in  the  Fall  of  1912. 

Oscar  Hammerstein  in  May,  1912,  paid  off  the  mort- 
gage of  $100,000  on  the  Victoria  Theatre,  New  York 
City,  held  by  E.  F.  Albee,  thus  complicating  the  vaude- 

xix 


ville  situation  as  far  as  the  policy  of  the  New  Palace 
Theatre  is  concerned. 

Thomas  Cochrane  resigned  from  the  management  of 
the  Majestic  Film  Company  in  May,  1912,  to  assume  the 
direction  of  the  Kinemacolor  (American)  Company. 

Before  sailing  for  Europe,  Signer  Gatti-Casazza  an- 
nounced that  a  native  grand  opera  composed  by  Walter 
Damrosch  would  be  included  in  the  repertoire  of  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House,  season  of  1912-13. 

On  May  15,  1912,  Messrs.  Cohan  and  Harris  acquired 
the  lease  of  the  Astor  Theatre  from  Messrs.  Wagenhals 
and  Kemper,  the  price  for  the  unexpired  term  being  an- 
nounced at  $250,000.  This  acquisition  gives  Cohan  and 
Harris  four  New  York  theatres  and  is  strikingly  illus- 
trative of  the  amazing  success  of  the  firm.  A  decade  ago 
George  M.  Cohan  was  appearing  in  vaudeville  theatres 
with  "The  Four  Cohans"  and  Mr.  Harris  was  a  member 
of  a  firm  presenting  melodrama  productions.  Both  are 
now  extremely  wealthy — while  the  retiring  firm's  career 
is  quite  as  interesting.  In  three  years  of  the  four  that 
they  conducted  the  Astor  Theatre,  Wagenhals  and  Kem- 
per presented  but  three  plays,  and  on  two  of  these,  "Paid 
in  Full"  and  "Seven  Days,"  they  amassed  a  fortune  said 
to  be  close  to  one  million  dollars. 

The  "One-Man  Orchestra,"  referred  to  in  the  volume 
as  the  Hope-Jones  Unit  Orchestra,  is  known  as  the 
Wurlitzer-Hope-Jones  Unit  Orchestra,  and  is  manu- 
factured by  Rudolph  Wurlitzer  and  Company,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, O. 

The  Motion  Picture  Distributing  and  Sales  Co.  have 
announced  the  withdrawal  of  some  of  its  manufac- 
turers of  film  in  May,  1912,  and  these  have  organized 
an  independent  company.  This  procedure,  however, 
does  not  affect  the  Sales  Company  in  its  output,  its 
original  founders  still  remaining  and  new  manufac- 
turers have  been  added,  so  that  its  officers  claim  the 
position  of  the  Sales  Company  has  been  strengthened 
instead  of  weakened. 


xx 


CHARLES    C.    PUFFER 

To    Whom    the    Author    Extends    His    Congratulations    for    Having    "Missed" 
the    Titanic   After    Passage    Was    Engaged. 


INTRODUCTORY 

In  the  preparation  of  the  third  volume,  the  Author 
has  been  confronted  with  conditions  that  have  had 
a  natural  effect  on  the  recital  now  presented,  in  that 
the  Stage  as  a  theme  no  longer  is  confined  to  the 
player  in  the  flesh. 

As  prophesied  in  the  previous  volume,  science  and 
invention  have  made  rapid  strides  in  their  encroach- 
ment on  the  realm  of  Thespis,  and  the  part  now  be- 
ing played  by  the  phonograph,  the  player  piano, 
and  the  various  phases  of  development  of  the  irre- 
sistible moving  picture  in  contributing  to  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  public,  is  too  important  to  be  ignored 
in  a  work  of  this  character,  particularly  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  stage  and  its  people  have  made 
the  encroachment  possible.  Moreover,  the  dis- 
astrous conditions  recorded  in  the  volume  as  existing 
in  the  amusement  calling,  have  been  nevertheless 
greatly  mitigated  through  the  affiliation  of  the  play- 
ers and  singers  themselves  with  the  inventors,  al- 
ready to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  now  a  serious  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  the  living  or  the  mechanical  in 
music  and  the  drama  will  survive.  The  spectacle  of 
a  moving  picture  exhibition  in  a  leading  Broadway 
theatre  at  the  usual  prices  of  admission  for  the  best 
plays — drawing  to  the  box  office  $12,000  in  a  sin- 
gle week,  is  amazing,  and  yet  this  represents  a  con- 
dition in  the  infancy  of  an  industry  which  many  be- 
lieve will  ultimately  change  the  theatrical  map. 

xxi 


INTRODUCTORY 

However  this  may  be,  the  Author  has  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  justifying  the  presentation  in  this  volume  of 
the  facts  in  connection  with  the  advent  of  a  new  era 
in  the  field  of  public  entertaining.  This  series  of 
volumes  are  subscribed  for  by  the  professionals 
themselves  rather  than  by  the  general  public,  and 
this  fact  naturally  influences  the  character  of  the 
recital,  an  effort  being  made  to  convey  to  the  read- 
ers the  results  of  much  research  in  the  hope  that  they 
may  be  benefited  and  influenced  thereby.  Attention 
is  again  called  to  the  various  biographies,  some  of 
which,  though  lengthy,  contain  more  data  of  his- 
torical value  than  of  distinctly  personal  reference  to 
the  subject. 


xxn 


THE     TWENTIETH     CENTURY     STAGE, 
MECHANICALLY. 

Contributed  by  Claude  L.  Hagen. 

The  future  stage  is  a  virgin  field  for  improvements. 
Producers  of  photo  plays  have  set  the  pace  to  be  fol- 
lowed, a  continuous  story,  rapid  change  of  scenes,  per- 
fect illumination  of  scenes  and  characters,  intimate  re- 
lation to  its  audience. 

The  New  Theatre,  Central  Park  West,  New  York 
City,  dedicated  by  its  Founders  in  1909  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Drama,  was  provided  with  many 
devices  to  facilitate  rapid  change  of  scenes  and  illumi- 
nating effects.  But  the  enormous  size  of  the  theatre 
was  not  considered  when  its  director  selected  its  rep- 
ertoire of  plays  and  its  actors.  Wonderful  scenic 
effects  were  produced  every  few  days,  ranging  from 
opera  to  sketches.  Premier  performances  of  Shakes- 
pearean plays  were  given  after  matinee  performances 
of  other  heavy  scenic  plays.  The  most  remarkable 
schedule  was  carried  out  without  a  single  postpone- 
ment. The  productions  were  praised  without  stint, 
yet  after  two  seasons  of  experiment  by  its  directors, 
they  had  to  hang  up  the  sign  "FAILURE."  This 
magnificent  temple  of  art,  seating  nearly  3,000  per- 
sons, planned  and  molded  into  exquisite  form  and 

xxiii 


color  by  experts,  was  blamed  for  the  failure.  It  had 
no  acoustic  properties.  Its  silence  acquiesces,  yet  its 
late  director  is  engaged  in  directing  a  theatre  seating 
300  persons,  because  he  knows  now  he  must  have  his 
audience  intimate  with  his  actors. 

The  New  Theatre  was  originally  arranged  by  the 
late  Heinrich  Conried  during  his  term  as  director  of 
the  Metropolitan  Opera  House.  And  for  opera,  it 
was  ideal.  Yet  it  was  dedicated  to  the  drama.  After 
the  building  was  nearly  complete,  the  commission  for 
the  stage  machinery  appurtenances  and  illuminating 
effects  for  the  stage  were  awarded  with  the  result 
that  when  the  theatre  opened  they  were  not  finished. 
Only  the  Drehbuhne  was  complete,  and  upon  it  were 
produced  all  of  the  plays.  "The  School  for  Scandal" 
scenery  which  was  so  massive  that  it  had  to  be  put  into 
place  by  machinery,  required  six  changes  of  the  Dreh- 
buhne to  place  it  before  the  audience.  Four  of  these 
changes  were  made  in  one  minute  each  and  two  in 
one  and  a  half  minutes  each.  "Strife,"  with  its  massive 
mill  scene  and  mob  of  strikers  was  moved  complete 
to  its  place  in  less  than  one  minute.  The  illumination 
of  the  stage  was  the  direct  system  under  perfect  con- 
trol of  an  operator  located  under  the  stage  in  front 
of  the  musical  director.  The  combined  use  of  all 
the  illumination  provided  did  not  light  the  scenes  and 
characters  properly.  The  stage  house  contained  more 
than  three  quarters  of  a  million  cubic  feet  of  space. 
Some  idea  may  be  gleamed  of  the  size  of  the  audi- 
torium by  the  fact  that  the  back  of  the  gallery  was 
191  feet  from  the  back  of  the  stage,  112  feet  horizon- 
tally from  the  curtain  line,  and  70  feet  above  the  stage 
floor.  In  "The  Cottage  in  The  Air,"  more  than 
600,000  cubic  feet  of  space  was  exposed  to  the  audience 

xxiv 


I 


(O^G^^^Zf.*^         -^grf^L    y^tr^    ££ 


'    {/ 


C/ 


THE  INTIMATE  THEATRE  COPYRIGHTED  BY  CLAUDE  L.  HAGEN 


when  the  curtain  was  drawn  on  one  of  its  scenes. 

Europe  has  learned  long  ago  that  theatre  and 
stage  engineering  is  a  profession  acquired  not  from 
books,  but  by  practice.  America  does  not  understand 
it  that  way  and  intrusts  its  theatre  designs  to  archi- 
tects, who  build  theoretically,  not  practically.  By  the 
latter,  I  mean  that  they  do  not  keep  up  to  date  as  to  re- 
quirements or  the  opportunities,  as  they  are  not  en- 
gaged in  the  production  of  plays,  and  when  directors 
can  be  found  who  will  attempt  to  advance  the  Drama 
by  presenting  speaking  plays  to  an  audience,  part  of 
whom  were  more  than  half  a  block  away,  it  is  very 
evident  that  they  do  not  know  what  it  required. 

The  moving  picture  is  a  model  for  the  Twentieth 
Century  Mechanical  Stage,  Dissolving  Scenes,  Per- 
fect Illumination,  Intimate  Audiences. 

THE  INTIMATE  THEATRE. 

A.  Revolving  stage  or  Drehbiihne. 

B.  Act  curtain. 

C.  Footlights,  side  lights,  border  lights. 

D.  Fire  wall  curtain. 

E.  Circular  dome  over  stage. 

F.  Chamber  for  reflecting  lights  and  light  effects. 

G.  Ventilators. 
H.  Auditorium. 

The  Intimate  Theatre,  so  termed  on  account  of  the 
intimate  relation  of  the  audience  to  the  stage.  The 
revolving  stage  projects  into  the  audience  chamber, 
and  is  enclosed  by  the  act  curtain,  just  back  of  which 
are  the  footlights.  On  each  side,  vertically,  are  side 
lights,  and  overhead  are  the  border  or  top  lights,  all 
concealed.  This  arrangement  distributes  the  light 
equally  and  removes  the  blinding  effects  of  the  light 

XXV 


filaments  upon  the  eyes  of  the  actors,  permitting  them 
to  see  their  audience. 

An  orchestra  chamber  is  provided  on  one  side  of  the 
proscenium  arch;  an  organ  loft  opposite.  The  top 
of  the  proscenium  arch  extends  over  the  entire  audi- 
torium, returning  down  to  the  rear  wall,  forming  an 
immense  sounding  board  which  will  reflect  sound 
waves  to  every  part  of  the  audience  chamber  and  per- 
mits of  a  more  efficient  control  of  ventilation.  Plac- 
ing the  curtain  in  front  of  the  footlights  permits  the 
stage  director  to  light  the  picture  properly  before  it 
is  exposed  to  the  audience. 

Stage  floor  covering,  carpets,  etc.,  may  be  extended 
to  the  curtain  so  that  the  entire  scene  is  in  repose  when 
shown.  Movable  fire  walls  separate  the  stage  from 
the  audience  chamber,  arranged  as  sliding  doors 
suspended  from  the  top  and  closed  in  from  the  sides — 
this  permits  the  proscenium  opening  to  be  closed 
much  quicker  than  if  it  were  lowered  from  the  top. 
It  also  removes  the  danger  of  such  an  enormous 
weight  being  suspended  over  the  stage,  which  might 
be  dropped  or  lowered  onto  actors  who  might  be  try- 
ing to  pacify  an  audience  in  a  panic.  There  is  also 
less  danger  of  obstruction  in  this  movement  as  illus- 
trated in  the  Iroquois  Theatre  fire. 

This  arrangement  permits  of  the  construction  of  a 
light  chamber  over  the  proscenium  arch.  By  means  of 
flying  or  swing  bridges,  lights  and  effects  can  be  pro- 
duced over  any  portion  of  the  stage. 

The  Drehbiihne  or  revolving  stage  is  surrounded 
within  the  sight  lines  by  a  horizon  wall  with  a  sky 
dome,  preferably  of  steel  construction,  rough  plastered 
and  of  such  color  as  experiments  may  determine  is  best 
adapted  to  light  effects  projected  from  the  light  cham- 

xxvi 


THE  INTIMATE  THEATRE  COPYRIGHTED  BY  CLAUDE  L.  HAGEN 


her.     In  this  manner  the  entire  stage  may  be  flooded 
with  diffused  light. 

The  background  also  acts  as  a  sounding  board  to 
project  sound  waves. 

Beautiful  effects  may  be  obtained  similar  to  those 
of  the  artist  Mariano  Fortuny  of  Venice,  who  has 
invented  a  new  process  of  stage  illumination  which 
closely  imitates  the  conditions  of  nature,  and  presents 
all  objects  in  diffused  light.  Arc  lamps  are  used  ex- 
clusively, as  their  light  corresponds  in  composition 
more  closely  with  sunlight.  The  light  is  reflected  by 
surfaces  of  cloth  and  thus  diffused.  In  order  to  pro- 
duce the  various  tones  observed  in  nature,  the  reflect- 
ing surfaces  are  composed  of  a  number  of  strips,  some 
of  which  serve  for  the  production  of  colors,  and  others 
for  the  modification  of  the  light  by  an  admixture  of 
Wack  or  white  (white  paper  reflects  70  to  80  per  cent., 
Mack  velvet  4-10th  of  1  per  cent.)  Fortuny  has  illumi- 
nated a  stage  scene  so  perfectly  that  it  was  photo- 
graphed without  the  use  of  other  light  as  clearly  as 
though  it  had  been  out  in  the  daylight. 

The  opportunity  provided  by  the  design  of  the 
Intimate  Theatre  permits  of  a  revolution  in  stage 
lighting  and  dissolving  stage  pictures. 

The  Drehbiihne  permits  of  a  number  of  scenes  being 
arranged  upon  it  at  one  time,  with  no  portion  of  them 
extending  over — thus  permitting  scenes  to  be  moved 
into  position  rapidly,  silently.  Indefinite  time  may  be 
expended  in  preparing  scene  pictures  with  that  care 
and  detail  so  desired  by  the  director  and  artist,  and 
with  the  knowledge  that  they  will  appear  undisturbed 
and  silently  in  their  proper  place  in  the  play.  And 
thus  does  the  mechanical  stage  play  its  part  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  drama. 

xxvii 


The  Stage  in  the  Twentieth 
Century 


CHAPTER  I 

The  amusement  field,  a  term  comprehending  every 
phase  of  endeavor  in  the  field  of  the  theatre,  finds  itself 
in  a  unique  position  in  this  second  decade  of  the 
Twentieth  Century,  for,  through  the  advent  of  science 
and  artifice  on  the  scene,  the  problems  confronting  our 
amusement  caterers  have  become  so  serious,  that  the 
number  of  what  are  called  "producers,"  now  operat- 
ing in  the  distinctly  theatrical  field,  is  the  smallest 
recorded  in  the  last  twenty-five  years;  whereas,  in 
view  of  the  tremendous  progress,  the  increase  in  popu- 
lation and  the  enlarged  scope  of  the  stage,  one  would 
expect  to  see  in  so  propitious  a  business  era  many  new 
producers  provided  with  an  incentive  for  activity.  But 
it  is  a  fact  that  the  gentlemen  who  to-day  provide  the 
plays  and  players  for  the  entertainment  of  our  ninety 
million  inhabitants  are  to  a  very  great  extent  the  same 
managers  who  a  generation  ago  began  to  tempt  fate 
in  what  was  then  considered  to  be  the  most  precarious 
calling  with  which  men  of  business  could  cope. 

It  is  of  course  true  that  some  of  these  producers 
operate  to-day  on  a  scale  not  even  dreamed  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  There  are  a  dozen  firms  to-day 
whose  investments  are  in  excess  of  a  million  dollars 


Cfu    Stage    in    tbe 


each,  but  these  combined,  represent  more  than  80  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  amusement  output.  The  firm  of 
Klaw  &  Erlanger  as  individuals,  wholly  aside  from 
their  interest  in  what  is  called  the  "theatrical  syndi- 
cate," own  a  half  dozen  theatres  in  New  York  City,  and 
when  it  is  stated  that  the  fixed  charges  on  these  thea- 
tres amount  to  nearly  $300,000  a  year,  an  idea  may  be 
had  as  to  the  extent  of  their  operations  throughout 
the  country. 

That  there  have  been  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  the 
producers  from  the  younger  generation  is  also  true, 
for  the  Messrs.  Shubert  operate  on  a  scale  so  colossal 
that  their  entire  vast  holdings  amount  to  more  than 
any  group  of  twenty-five  managers  handled  not  so 
many  years  ago.  They  own,  lease  or  control  in  New 
York  City  fifteen  theatres  besides  the  Hippodrome  and 
the  Winter  Garden  and  they  have  at  least  one  thea- 
tre in  every  large  city  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
and  probably  a  score  of  theatres  in  the  smaller  citiea 
under  their  own  management,  while,  by  reason  of 
their  affiliations,  they  have  any  number  of  theatres 
available  for  their  stage  attractions.  The  Shuberta 
are  the  most  prominent  producers,  having  on  tour 
always  from  thirty  to  forty  companies. 

Perhaps  the  largest  and  most  persistent  producing 
firm  is  that  of  Liebler  &  Company,  though  until  this 
year  they  were  without  any  theatres  of  their  own,  and 
even  now  are  not  possessed  of  sufficient  for  their  needs, 
in  view  of  the  enormity  of  their  operations ;  their  acces- 
sion of  the  Century  Theatre,  too,  is  but  temporary,  but 
in  Boston  they  have  secured  a  foothold  permanently, 
in  the  New  Plymouth  Theatre  now  prospering.  But 
this  firm  will  surely  add  to  their  holdings  in  the  near 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 3 

future,  particularly  if  they  continue  to  score  as  many 
"hits"  as  have  been  credited  to  them  the  past  two 
seasons.  Besides,  Mr.  Tyler's  conduct  of  the  Century 
Theatre  will  be  watched  with  interest,  and  if  he  suc- 
ceeds in  providing  compelling  attractions,  for  this  in- 
stitution, even  though  he  may  not  be  permitted  to 
remain  there,  the  prestige  which  will  be  his  for  such 
an  achievement,  must  naturally  attract  capital  in  his 
direction,  if,  indeed,  the  firm  of  Liebler  &  Company 
will  require  outside  aid  in  this  respect  in  another  year. 

Another  firm  representing  the  rising  generation  of 
the  theatre  is  that  of  Cohan  &  Harris ;  their  operations 
are  not  as  yet  on  the  multitudinous  scale  which  char- 
acterizes those  above  named.  Nevertheless,  they 
evolve  some  of  the  most  potent  and  substantial  suc- 
cesses of  the  modern  stage,  such  as  "The  Fortune 
Hunter"  and  "Get-Rich-Quick  Wallingford,"  the  profits 
on  which  will  reach  a  million  dollars  long  before  they 
are  cast  into  oblivion.  This  firm  has  three  theatres 
in  New  York  City,  and  all  their  enterprises  are  in  an 
extremely  flourishing  condition. 

During  the  past  year  Mr.  Cohan  has  evinced  a 
tendency  to  withdraw  from  the  field  of  musical  comedy 
in  which  he  has  seemingly  prospered,  having  decided 
that  the  rewards  financially  are  not  in  a  fair  proportion 
to  the  outlay,  and  as  a  result  his  own  appearances  be- 
fore the  public  are  altogether  too  rare ;  though  before 
this  volume  reaches  its  readers,  the  bizarre  comedian 
presented  a  play  from  his  own  pen  in  which  he  and. 
"his  royal  family"  were  enrolled  in  the  cast. 

Henry  B.  Harris,  although  a  descendant  of  one  of 
the  richest  and  most  esteemed  managers  of  the  last 
half  century,  William  Harris,  has  operated  for  himself 


Cftc    §tage    in    tfie 


for  less  than  fifteen  years ;  he  has  many  companies  on 
tour,  the  most  of  these,  however,  represent  the  suc- 
cesses achieved  at  the  Hudson  Theatre,  and  several 
companies  are  prosperously  presenting  such  "hits"  as 
"The  Lion  and  the  Mouse,"  "The  Third  Degree,"  "The 
Chorus  Lady,"  "The  Traveling  Salesman,"  "The  Com- 
muters" and  "The  Country  Boy."  Mr.  Harris  has  not 
been  enabled  to  add  greatly  to  his  list  of  successes  in 
the  last  two  years,  and  this  has  resulted  in  a  curtail- 
ment of  his  producing  output,  though  no  manager  in 
this  country  provides  greater  incentive  to  the  native 
playwright.  Mr.  Harris  has  during  the  past  year  added 
greatly  to  his  list  of  theatres  and  is  now  possessed  of 
quite  a  chain  of  important  establishments.  In  New 
York  he  owns  the  Hudson  and  Hackett  Theatres, 
while  in  conjunction  with  Jesse  Lasky  he  has  given  to 
New  York,  in  the  Folies  Bergere,  the  most  unique  and 
interesting  amusement  resort  it  has  ever  had.  (Tho 
Folies  Bergere  became  the  Fulton  Theatre  in  Novem- 
ber, 1911.) 

At  the  time  of  going  to  press  Henry  B.  Harris  gave 
up  his  life  in  the  terrible  sea  disaster  wherein  the 
Steamship  "Titanic"  sank  with  sixteen  hundred  souls 
on  board.  Mr.  Harris  died  as  he  lived — a  real  man, 
and  his  loss  to  the  stage-calling  is  one  that  may  not  be 
replaced. 

The  firm  of  Wagenhals  &  Kemper  is  another  of  the 
producing  institutions  of  the  younger  generation ;  these 
two  gentlemen  have  attracted  much  attention  by 
reason  of  the  discernment  which  they  have  shown  in 
selecting  attractions  for  the  Astor  Theatre,  their  only 
New  York  playhouse,  where  they  have  presented  only 
three  plays  in  as  many  years,  having  established  the 


Ctoentieti)    Centurp 


house  as  one  of  "long  runs,"  but  in  the  season  of 
1910-11  they  have  not  been  so  successful,  though  the 
firm  has  been  prolific  in  its  productions.  The  season 
came  to  an  end  without  recording  a  single  lasting 
success. 

Wagenhals  &  Kemper  had  great  hopes  for  the 
comedy  "What  the  Doctor  Ordered,"  produced  by 
them  in  the  Spring  of  1911,  but,  owing  to  the  catas- 
trophe which  resulted  in  the  death  of  Jacob  Wendell, 
Jr.,  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  where  the  play  was  being  "tried 
out,"  the  New  York  production  on  which  these  man- 
agers had  calculated  to  maintain  their  remarkable 
record,  was  abandoned  indefinitely.  Mr.  Wendell  had 
the  leading  role  in  this  production,  and  the  interest  in 
its  fate  was  considerable,  because  of  the  popularity  of 
the  young  actor  who  had  made  much  artistic  progress 
at  The  New  Theatre,  and  it  was  the  hope  of  his  many 
friends  and  the  management  as  well  that  he  would 
emerge  to  a  stellar  position  from  his  efforts  in  this 
play.  So  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  Wagenhals  & 
Kemper  recognized  the  need  of  postponing  an  enter- 
prise with  which  the  deceased  player  was  so  closely 
and  conspicuously  associated.  The  new  comedy,  how- 
ever, has  since  been  presented  at  the  Astor  Theatre. 

In  March,  1912,  Wagenhals  and  Kemper  presented 
"The  Greyhound"  at  the  Astor  Theatre  with  every 
indication  that  the  play  will  establish  a  record. 

William  A.  Brady  is  a  producer  who  illustrates  the 
viewpoint  of  the  writer  in  that  he  has  been  operating 
for  nearly  three  decades,  always  increasing  the  magni- 
tude of  his  productions,  until  to-day  his  enterprises  are 
truly  of  a  colossal  order.  Mr.  Brady  came  from  Cali- 
fornia to  New  York  in  the  early  '80's  and  he  first 


6  C&e^tageint&e 

attracted  the  attention  and  respect  of  his  colleagues 
by  his  production  of  an  old-time  melodrama,  " After 
Dark,"  a  work  which  served  him  in  very  many  ways. 
Mr.  Brady  has  so  many  companies  on  tour  that  it  is 
to  be  regretted  he  is  not  possessed  of  more  theatres 
to  house  them  in,  for,  like  his  colleagues,  Liebler  & 
Company,  Brady  has  had  to  be  content  to  make  his 
many  potent  productions  in  the  theatres  of  other  man- 
agers. But  this  year  he  has  seen  his  Playhouse  in- 
augurated by  Mrs.  Brady  (Grace  George),  and  his  con- 
duct of  this  establishment  is  to  be  on  the  broadest,  and 
most  artistic  lines.  Mr.  Brady  scored  the  most  sub- 
stantial comedy  success  of  last  year  in  "Baby  Mine," 
and  with  "Bought  and  Paid  For"  achieved  a 
sensational  success  the  season  of  1911-12,  while 
the  manner  in  which  he  developed  the  farce 
"Over  Night"  from  a  doubtful  proposition  to  one  of  the 
sterling  successes  of  the  year,  merely  demonstrates  the 
need  of  theatres  for  such  producers  who  can  only  achieve 
results  when  they  are  enabled  to  hold  their  successful 
productions  in  a  theatre  long  enough  to  properly  test 
their  value.  "Over  Night"  might  have  been  sent  to 
the  store  house  after  its  first  or  second  week  and  never 
heard  of  again,  but  for  Brady's  foresight  and  pluck,  and 
these  traits  have  availed  him  so  often  in  almost  similar 
manner  that  it  is  not  remarkable  that  he  has  so  many 
permanently  successful  attractions  on  tour.  Much  in- 
terest is  felt  in  the  future  efforts  of  the  author  of  "Over 
Night,"  Phillip  H.  Bartholomae. 

Henry  W.  Savage  is  regarded  in  theatredom  as  the 
"untheatrical  manager"  in  that  he  is  of  a  distinctly  re- 
tiring disposition.  Here  we  have  a  man  who  had 
theatrical  management  actually  thrust  upon  him,  but 


WINTHROP    AMES 


WILLIAM    A.    BRADY 


FRANK    McKEE  WILLIAM  J.   DAVIS 

A    Group   of   Theatrical  Managers    of   To-day 


Ctoentietf)    Centurp 


who,  when  he  found  the  game  within  his  scope, 
plunged  into  it  with  all  his  soul,  and  he  quickly  be- 
came a  tremendous  power.  Mr.  Savage  is  a  striking 
illustration  of  what  a  strong  mentality,  when  com- 
bined with  a  practical  business  procedure,  will  accom- 
plish, even  when  actual  experience  is  lacking. 

It  is  said  of  Henry  W.  Savage  by  a  writer  who  knew 
his  subject  well,  that  his  features,  kindly  as  they  appear 
to  be,  are  of  the  molding  found  in  old  Scotland,  yet  he 
is  a  typical  Yankee  in  every  sense.  He  has  a  jaw  that 
has  been  compared  to  a  bear  trap,  while  stones  can 
be  broken  on  the  chin  of  the  only  impresario  with  the 
courage  to  present  "Parsifal"  and  "Madame  Butter- 
fly" in  English  and  who  is  now  producing  the  Puccini- 
Belasco  opera,  "The  Girl  of  the  Golden  West." 

Although  practical  and  always  the  business  man, 
Mr.  Savage  has  shown  in  his  production  of  "Every- 
woman"  that  he  is  possessed  of  both  artistic  taste  and 
public  spirit.  During  the  past  year  much  has  been 
made  of  an  expression,  emanating  from  Mr.  Savage, 
to  the  effect  that  he  has  no  faith  in  any  opera  until  it 
had  scored  abroad.  Many  persons  have  been  disap- 
pointed because  the  American  impresario  has  been 
frank  enough  to  define  his  position  which  is  to  present 
grand  opera  in  English,  but  not  to  devote  his  time 
and  capital  in  an  effort  to  uncover  worthy  material. 
Mr.  Savage  is  essentially  a  producer  of  great  works 
produced  at  the  Metropolitan  in  Italian,  but  he  does 
not  have  to  wait  for  their  acceptance  at  that  institu- 
tion. He  produced  "La  Boheme"  before  it  was  rend- 
ered at  the  big  opera  house  at  Fortieth  Street  and 
Broadway  and  he  contracted  for  "Madame  Butter- 
fly" long  before  its  production  in  Italian,  and  the  same 


8  Cfce    Stage    ttttfte 

is  true  of  the  forthcoming  production  of  "The  Girl  of 
the  Golden  West,"  which  was  planned  long  before  its 
fate  was  determined  by  the  New  York  public. 

No  manager  in  this  country  is  regarded  with  greater 
favor  abroad  where  Mr.  Savage  spends  nearly  half  of 
his  time,  searching  for  novelties,  and  it  is  only  through 
industry  that  such  tremendous  successes  as  "The 
Merry  Widow"  and  "Madame  X"  fell  into  his  hands; 
but  his  judgment  has  been  just  as  good  in  selecting 
native  material,  for  it  was  Mr.  Savage  who  first  dis- 
covered the  value  of  George  Ade,  not  only  as  a 
librettist  for  comic  operas,  but  that  writer's  "County 
Chairman"  and  "The  College  Widow"  added  greatly 
to  the  Savage  fortune,  while  during  the  past  season  he 
has  enabled  Rupert  Hughes  to  show  his  versatility  as 
a  playwright  by  producing  "Excuse  Me,"  a  comedy 
that  is  likely  to  establish  great  records  in  a  financial 
sense  and  remain  potent  for  years  to  come. 

Mr.  Savage  scored  three  great  successes  during  the 
season  of  1911-12,  viz.,  "The  Million,"  "Little  Boy 
Blue"  and  "Everywoman." 

Daniel  V.  Arthur,  although  still  a  young  man,  has 
been  active  as  a  producer  for  nearly  two  decades  and 
he  has  assumed  a  gait  in  the  last  year  that  suggests 
much  for  his  future  career.  Mr.  Arthur  has  no  theatre 
in  New  York,  but  his  name  is  mentioned  in  connection 
with  plans  for  a  new  theatre  soon  to  be  erected.  Mr. 
Arthur's  attractions,  besides  his  wife  (Marie  Cahill), 
are  De  Wolf  Hopper  and  Weedon  Grossmith. 

Lew  Fields  is  decidedly  of  the  class  of  producers, 
developing  from  less  propitious  periods  of  the  theatre 
and  he  certainly  has  set  a  pace  for  the  younger  men 
in  this  line  of  endeavor.  He  also  provides  them  with. 


Ctoentietfr    Centutg 9 

any  needed  incentive;  Mr.  Fields  is  fortunate  in  the 
possession  of  two  Broadway  theatres,  each  with  a 
large  capacity,  thus  permitting  productions  of  an 
elaborate  and  prodigious  character.  So  far  at  the 
Broadway  Theatre  he  has  presented  five  spectacular 
musical  comedies,  all  within  three  years,  and  the  out- 
lay in  any  one  of  these  would  suffice  to  launch  a  grand 
opera  enterprise  even  in  modern  times,  but  the  public 
response,  at  least  as  far  as  New  York  is  concerned, 
has  always  been  such  as  to  justify  the  prodigality  in 
expenditure.  The  box  office  results  at  the  Broadway 
Theatre,  since  Mr.  Fields  has  been  responsible  for  its 
conduct,  have  been  unprecedented  in  the  history  of 
the  stage.  A  business  of  $15,000  a  week  has  been  com- 
mon even  in  mid-Summer,  while  with  the  recent  pro- 
duction, "The  Henpecks"  and  "The  Never  Homes"  the 
average  weekly  receipts  will  exceed  this  total.  Un- 
fortunately Mr.  Fields'  offerings  have  not  been  so 
profitable  on  tour  for  the  reason  that  there  are  very 
few  cities  that  he  may  transport  such  organizations  to 
without  loss,  and  this  is  a  matter  he  has  to  reckon  with 
in  calculating  the  final  outcome.  However,  in  the  few 
large  cities  visited  the  profits  have  been  enormous. 
During  the  past  season  Mr.  Fields  added  William 
Collier  to  his  list  of  attractions,  placing  him  in  a 
theatre  which,  up  to  his  advent  there,  had  been  a  seri- 
ous problem  for  the  Messrs.  Shubert;  but  since  Mr. 
Collier's  name  has  been  added  to  the  Comedy  Theatre, 
its  career  has  been  one  of  continued  prosperity,  while 
at  the  Herald  Square  Theatre  the  Shuberts  and  their 
allies  have  provided  Mr.  Fields  with  a  list  of  potent 
attractions,  so  that  he  has  not  had  to  make  any  new 


10 C&e   S>ta0e    in   tfte 

productions  at  this  establishment  previous  to  "The 
Wife  Hunters"  in  November,  1911. 

It  is  surely  an  amazing  illustration  of  this  man's 
ability  as  a  producer  and  manager,  when  he  can  con- 
duct three  theatres  in  New  York  and  a  half  dozen  im- 
portant touring  attractions,  involving  a  weekly  ex- 
penditure of  not  less  than  $30,000  and  still  appear 
himself  a  great  part  of  the  time,  for  we  must  not  for- 
get that  it  is  not  so  long  ago  that  Lew  Fields  and  his 
erstwhile  associate  Joe  Weber  were  appearing  in  our 
variety  theatres  in  a  specialty  at  a  salary  of  $250  a 
week.  They  have  often  been  offered  $5,000  a  week,  to 
repeat  the  very  same  act — such  is  progress.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1912,  Weber  and  Fields  came  together  again, 
and  it  is  hoped  for  all  time. 

Joe  Weber,  while  not  as  extensive  an  operator  in 
the  amusement  field  as  his  former  partner,  is  neverthe- 
less an  important  factor.  He  still  possesses  the  little 
theatre,  where  Weber  and  Fields  made  history  for  the 
stage,  and  in  his  only  new  musical  production  of  the 
last  year  he  has  shown  that  he  has  the  skill  and  judg- 
ment qualifying  him  as  an  expert  producer.  In  fact, 
Mr.  Weber's  staging  of  "Alma,  Where  Do  You  Live?" 
may  be  set  down  as  the  best  work  of  his  career.  The 
cast  was  changed  during  the  all-season  run,  but  never 
in  a  manner  to  affect  the  perfect  ensemble.  This  pro- 
duction, unlike  Mr.  Fields'  offerings,  will  profit  Mr. 
Weber  to  a  greater  extent  on  tour  than  at  the  little 
theatre  where  it  remained  for  more  than  six  months. 
Mr.  Weber  still  has  several  companies  on  tour  with 
"The  Climax,"  and  this,  too,  has  been  a  profitable 
undertaking. 


Ctoentietfr    Centtirg 11 

Of  Mr.  Charles  Frohman  so  much  has  been  written 
in  the  previous  volumes  by  the  writer  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  state  regretfully  that  our  most  public- 
spirited  producer  did  not  find  a  great  public  response 
during  the  season  of  1910-11  for  his  new  offerings.  In 
fact  all  of  the  plays  by  foreign  authors,  produced  at 
the  outset  of  that  season,  were  failures,  and  nearly  all 
were  abandoned,  and  the  paraphernalia  sent  to  the 
store  houses,  while  some  of  Mr.  Frohman's  best-known 
stars  were  forced  to  close  their  season  prematurely  for 
the  want  of  a  compelling  vehicle  with  which  to  attract 
the  public.  Even  Maud  Adams  did  not  add  to  her 
potency  with  Rostand's  "Chantecler,"  and  there  are 
many  wise  persons  who  believe  that  Miss  Adams 
would  have  prospered  to  a  greater  extent  with  any 
play  in  her  repertoire,  while  others,  perhaps  quite  as 
competent  to  judge,  believe  that  a  male  actor,  such  as 
Otis  Skinner,  would  have  given  greater  distinction  to 
the  title  role  in  the  Rostand  play  and  also  rendered 
that  work  more  attractive  to  playgoers. 

Mr.  Frohman  did  not  score  a  single  comedy  suc- 
cess during  the  past  year,  though  "The  Arcadians" 
and  "The  Dollar  Princess"  were  as  compelling  as  ever. 
"Miss  Gibbs"  did  not  please  in  New  York  as  it  did  in 
London,  but,  on  tour,  the  newer  piece  had  more  grati- 
fying returns  at  the  box-ofnce.  Mr.  Frohman's  activity 
was  never  so  great  as  it  has  been  the  last  twelve 
months,  but  he  simply  was  unfortunate  with  the  works 
of  foreign  playwrights.  Even  the  two  Bernstein  plays, 
"came  a  cropper."  Mrs.  Patrick  Campbell  and  Marie 
Tempest,  who  heretofore  have  always  found  great 
favor  with  the  public,  were  unable  to  attract  because 
of  the  lack  of  good  plays,  but  William  Gillette,  though 


12 C6e    %>tage    in    tfte 

he  presented  nothing  new,  was  by  far  Mr.  Frohman's 
most  profitable  star;  in  fact,  during  the  last  twelve 
months,  Mr.  Gillette  has  shown  that  he  is  the  succes- 
sor to  Richard  Mansfield  as  a  star  who  can  attract 
with  a  repertoire  of  old-time  successes.  The  public  re- 
sponse to  Mr.  Gillette  was  so  great  that  he  played 
nearly  half  the  season  in  New  York,  drawing  immense 
audiences  even  with  such  plays  as  "Held  by  the 
Enemy,"  an  offering,  which,  while  it  drew  largely  a 
generation  ago,  was  not  the  means  of  bringing  Mr. 
Gillette  to  a  stellar  position. 

Much  was  made  of  a  report  during  the  year  that  Mr. 
Frohman  had  leased  his  London  theatres  to  English 
producers,  but  investigation  resulted  in  disclosing  the 
fact  that  he  had  merely  rented  his  theatres  temporarily 
to  former  associates,  with  whom  he  is  still  closely 
affiliated,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  new  sea- 
son will  find  the  "Napoleon"  of  managers  as  actively 
engaged  as  at  any  time  in  his  long  and  unexampled 
career. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1911,  Mr.  Frohman  was  at- 
tacked with  acute  rheumatism  and  he  had  been  con- 
fined at  the  Hotel  Knickerbocker  almost  continuously 
up  to  January,  1912.  The  season  of  1911-12  has  been 
a  very  good  one  for  Mr.  Frohman. 

Daniel  Frohman  has  never  operated  on  a  wholesale 
scale ;  he  has  always  been  content  to  direct  the  fortunes 
of  one  or  two  theatres,  and  these  have  ever  been  con- 
ducted along  the  most  artistic  lines.  The  elder 
Frohman  has,  however,  made  several  productions 
during  the  year,  one  of  these  being  "The  Seven 
Sisters,"  in  which  Charles  Cherry  became  a  Frohman 
star.  Another  comedy  "His  Neighbor's  Wife/'  is 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 13 

prospering  on  tour.  During  the  year  Mr.  Frohman 
has  had  published  one  of  the  most  interesting  volumes 
issued  in  a  generation.  The  book  has  for  its  title, 
"Memories  of  a  Manager,"  and  is  unquestionably  the 
most  readable  book  ever  issued  in  a  reminiscent  vein. 
The  volume  should  be  in  every  library,  if  for  no  other 
reason  that  it  recounts  the  beginning  of  a  score  of 
stars  whose  careers  he  launched. 

Charles  B.  Dillingham  left  the  position  of  dramatic 
editor  of  the  Evening  Sun  to  be  a  theatrical  manager. 
He  had  contributed  to  his  paper  for  two  or  three  years 
a  daily  column  of  snappy  paragraphs  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  Charles  Frohman  who  offered  him  his 
first  position.  A  few  days  afterward,  Charles  A.  Dana 
missed  the  dramatic  column  and  sent  for  Mr.  Dill- 
ingham. 

"Are  you  the  young  man  who  used  to  do  our 
theatrical  paragraphs  ?" 

"I  am." 

"Well,  tell  me  why  you  left  newspaper  work?" 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,  Mr.  Dana/'  replied  Mr. 
Dillingham,  "my  father  wouldn't  send  me  any  more 
money." 

Mr.  Dillingham  was  confidential  representative  of 
Mr.  Frohman  for  some  years  and  then  started  business 
on  his  own  account.  His  first  star  was  Julia  Marlowe 
and  for  several  seasons  he  confined  his  efforts  to  purely 
dramatic  productions,  in  that  time  managing  some  of 
the  foremost  of  American  and  European  actors  and 
producing  many  successes.  Of  late  years  he  has  turned 
his  attention  to  musical  comedy  in  which  field  he  has 
established  a  standard  of  his  own.  His  production  of 
"M'lle  Modiste"  with  Fritzi  Scheff  in  the  title  role  has 


Cfie^tageintfte 


never  been  equaled  in  native-written  comic  opera  and 
in  the  strictly  musical  comedy  class.  "The  Red  Mill" 
with  Montgomery  and  Stone  is  pre-eminent.  A  score 
of  operatic  and  musical  comedy  stars  have  appeared  at 
one  time  or  another  under  the  Dillingham  banner  and 
at  present  Elsie  Janis,  Montgomery  and  Stone  and 
Eddie  Foy  are  appearing  in  successful  Dillingham  pro- 
ductions. 

In  "The  Slim  Princess"  Elsie  Janis  has  scored  by 
far  the  greatest  success  of  her  remarkable  career.  The 
results  at  the  box-office  have  been  overwhelming,  the 
receipts  reaching  as  high  as  $12,000  a  week  more  often 
than  not.  Miss  Janis  produced  a  play  written  by  her- 
self at  a  single  matinee  in  April,  1911,  also  at  the  Globe 
Theatre  and  she  covered  herself  with  glory,  not  only 
as  a  playwright,  but  as  a  result  of  her  portrayal  of 
a  difficult  role.  Much  is  heard  to  the  effect  that  Miss 
Janis  is  soon  toi  portray  some  of  the  great  characters 
of  classical  repertoire,  and  that  in  doing  this  she  has 
been  encouraged  and  advised  by  the  divine  Sarah 
Bernhardt.  It  is  not  strange  that  Sarah  should  have 
seen  in  "our  little  Elsie"  the  divine  spark,  so  rarely 
discovered  in  modern  times,  but  there  are  many  less 
gifted  than  the  divine  one  who  have  predicted  for 
Elsie  Janis  a  prolonged  career  as  a  tragic  queen. 
After  all,  the  advent  of  this  versatile  artiste  into 
broader  fields  ought  not  to  be  regarded  with  skepti- 
cism, for  is  it  not  true  that  our  own  Julia  Marlowe 
sang  Josephine  in  "Pinafore"  not  so  very  long  before 
she  assumed  the  tragic  muse,  and  all  of  the  great  ex- 
ponents of  the  French,  Italian  and  German  stage  are 
as  well  qualified  for  tragedy  as  they  are  for  comedy,  be- 
sides any  one  who  has  been  under  the  spell  of  Elsie 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 15 

Janis  at  her  best,  will  not  regard  the  spectacle  of  her 
appearance  as  Camille  indifferently. 

The  youngest  of  our  producers  (and  their  activity 
began  less  than  two  years  ago)  is  the  firm  of  Werba 
and  Luescher.  These  two  "boys"  have  started  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  commendation;  both  have  come  to 
their  present  position  through  practical  training  and 
well  earned  experience.  Louis  F.  Werba  is  related 
to  Abraham  L.  Erlanger,  and  he  has  served  the  latter 
as  manager  of  the  New  York  Theatre  for  several  years. 
Mark  A.  Luescher,  though  yet  a  young  man,  has  had  a 
vast  experience.  He  came  to  New  York  with  the  Shu- 
berts  a  little  more  than  a  decade  ago  and  he  was  a 
considerable  factor  in  their  earlier  campaign.  The 
firm  of  Werba  and  Luescher  really  is  not  a  new  one, 
for  it  was  originally  formed  five  years  ago  to  exploit 
a  dancer,  then  known  as  "La  Domino  Rouge,"  but 
now  known  as  Mile.  Dazie.  The  two  young  managers 
went  their  separate  ways  after  achieving  a  noteworthy 
success  in  their  first  venture.  They  came  together 
again  in  the  Fall  of  1910  for  the  purpose  of  launching 
Miss  Christie  MacDonald  as  a  star  of  comic  opera. 
From  Heir  Andreas  Dippel,  they  secured  the  Ameri- 
can rights  to  the  Viennese  opera  "Die  Sprudelfee" 
(The  Spring  Maid),  and  after  a  few  performances  out 
of  town,  the  new  work  was  presented  at  the  Liberty 
Theatre  on  Christmas  night,  1910.  The  success  was 
immediate;  no  production  within  the  memory  of  th« 
writer  has  ever  merited  or  received  such  a  unanimous 
indorsement  from  the  New  York  press.  The  theatre 
was  sold  out  at  every  performance,  and  the  run  was 
interrupted  only  for  the  purpose  of  giving  Miss  Mac- 
Donald  and  her  colleagues  a  Summer  vacation. 


16  CfteStageintfte 

In  selecting  Miss  MacDonald  as  possessing  the 
necessary  stellar  timbre,  the  new  firm  of  managers 
showed  a  fine  discernment.  Not  since  Marie  Aimee's 
day  has  New  York  taken  for  its  idol  an  artist  with 
such  alacrity.  The  engagement  of  Thomas  McNaugh- 
ton  for  the  principal  comedy  role  also  reflected  credit- 
ably on  the  new  firm,  and  the  entire  production  has 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  sterling  and  lasting 
successes  of  the  last  ten  years.  Following  their  pro- 
pitious start,  Werba  and  Luescher  selected  a  popular 
duo  who  had  enjoyed  a  large  vogue  in  vaudeville,  but 
because  of  litigation,  have  been  prevented  from  con- 
tinuing in  productions  wherein  they  had  scored  great- 
ly. Nora  Bayes  and  Jack  Norworth  were  introduced 
in  a  comedy,  entitled  "Little  Miss  Fix-It";  the  press 
did  not  enthuse  over  this  offering,  but  the  new  firm 
was  not  willing  to  accept  their  verdict  as  final.  In 
this  they  were  seconded  by  the  public,  with  the  final 
result  wholly  constructive. 

Werba  and  Luescher  are  operating  upon  an  exten- 
sive scale  during  the  season  of  1911-12,  the  most  am- 
bitious of  their  productions  being  the  grand  opera 
"Quo  Vadis"  which  had  a  production  in  Philadelphia 
and  New  York  by  the  Chicago-Philadelphia  Grand 
Opera  Company;  in  fact,  Herr  Dippel  is  interested 
with  Werba  and  Luescher  in  the  production  in  the 
vernacular.  Alice  Lloyd  entered  the  broader  fields  as 
a  star  under  the  same  management  in  the  Fall  and  now 
has  the  star  role  in  "Little  Miss  Fix-It."  "Bub  Oder 
Maedel,"  a  Vienese  comic  opera  which  this  firm  pro- 
duced in  the  Spring  of  1912,  was  heard  in  German  at 
the  Garden  Theatre  in  February,  1911. 

Frederick  C.  Whitney  is  in  the  limelight  as  a  pro- 


Ctoentieti)    Centurg 17 

ducer  on  an  extensive  scale;  his  production  of  "The 
Chocolate  Soldier,"  as  its  vogue  developed,  became 
the  most  successful  financially  as  well  as  artistically 
of  any  this  manager  has  ever  been  identified  with.  The 
success  has  extended  pretty  well  throughout  the 
world,  and  in  this  country  several  companies  have  pre- 
sented it  simultaneously,  always  to  record  receipts, 
while  in  London  Mr.  Whitney,  by  reason  of  the  suc- 
cess of  this  operetta,  has  established  himself  in  the 
English  metropolis  as  an  impresario  for  all  time.  Mr. 
Whitney  enters  the  grand  opera  field  during  the  year 
in  London;  he  has  also  scored  this  city  with  "Baron 
Trenk,"  an  operetta  first  presented  in  Mr.  Whitney's 
own  theatre,  formerly  The  Strand,  in  April,  1911. 
Another  Whitney  enterprise  is  the  return  to  America 
of  the  distinguished  violinist,  Herr  Kubelik.  Alto- 
gether Mr.  Whitney's  affairs  are  in  a  decidedly  flour- 
ishing condition.  His  father,  the  late  C.  J.  Whitney, 
was  a  public-spirited  man  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  he 
established  an  extensive  circuit  of  theatres  now  con- 
ducted by  his  son,  B.  C.  Whitney.  But  as  I  have  paid 
tribute  to  the  latter  in  a  previous  volume,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  state  here  that  these  two  descendants  of 
an  illustrious  manager  of  other  days  have  added  to 
the  family  fame  and  present  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  theory  that  the  old  school,  at  least  in  a  managerial 
sense,  is  well  worthy  of  perpetuation. 

Speaking  of  the  old  school  managers,  George  W. 
Lederer's  return  to  activity  has  been  an  event  of  in- 
terest which  has  also  been  attended  with  the  most  aus- 
picious results.  When  Mr.  Savage  found  it  advisable 
to  turn  his  many  attractions  over  to  the  Shuberts  for 
booking  purposes,  the  move  created  a  large  vacancy  in 


is Cfre   @tage   in   tfre 

the  assets  of  Messrs.  Klaw  and  Erlanger,  but  this  firm 
in  such  a  condition,  could  not  have  found  a  more 
worthy  substitute  than  they  did,  when  they  induced 
Mr.  Lederer  to  abandon  his  berth  in  Chicago  and  re- 
turn to  the  "rialto"  where  he  was  for  two  decades  a 
conspicuous  and  important  figure. 

Mr.  Lederer's  most  important  production  so  far, 
since  his  return  East,  was  "Mme.  Sherry,"  but  with  this 
one  effort  he  has  more  than  justified  himself.  The 
profits  on  "Mme.  Sherry"  for  one  season  alone  will  not 
fall  below  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  In  this  en- 
terprise Mr.  Lederer  is  associated  with  two  others, 
Harry  Frazee  and  Al  H.  Woods,  but  Mr.  Lederer  him- 
self has  been  the  controlling  and  active  force.  The 
firm  of  Lederer  and  Frazee  made  two  other  produc- 
tions during  the  year.  Victor  Moore  in  "The  Happiest 
Night  of  His  Life"  was  a  "fiasco,"  while  Richard 
Carle  in  "Jumping  Jupiter,"  though  indifferently  re- 
ceived in  New  York,  has  scored  out  of  town,  and  the 
attraction  is  now  regarded  as  a  success.  Lederer  and 
Frazee  have  provided  Victor  Moore  with  another  ve- 
hicle in  December,  1911,  with  far  better  results. 

In  March,  1912,  the  firm  of  Frazee  and  Lederer 
separated  to  the  extent  that  future  productions  will 
be  made  separately  by  the  individual  members 
thereof. 

In  May,  1912,  George  W.  Lederer  announced  that  he 
would  assume  an  independent  policy  thereafter  and 
one  of  his  attractions  opened  in  a  Shubert  theatre  in 
that  month. 

Al  H.  Woods  has  always  been  an  interesting  figure 
in  the  amusement  world,  and  no  manager  of  this  gen- 
eration has  shown  such  versatility  as  has  this  remark- 


Ctoentietft    Centutp 19 

able  entrepreneur.  Up  to  a  few  years  ago,  Mr.  Woods 
was  content  to  amass  a  fortune  by  his  operations  in 
the  field  of  melodrama,  but  when  the  advent  of  the 
motion  picture  conspired  to  make  his  position  quite 
untenable,  he  sought  broader  fields  in  which  he  could 
find  an  outlet  for  his  unparalleled  energy  and  opti- 
mism. Here  we  have  the  true  typical  Yankee  show- 
man whose  discernment  has  been  superfine  invariably 
in  the  selection  of  his  stars  and  attractions.  Mr. 
Woods,  during  the  past  year,  has  developed  at  least 
two  stars  to  a  state  of  potency  for  all  time.  These 
were  Carter  de  Haven,  a  young  and  effervescent  come- 
dian who  had  been  a  vaudeville  celebrity  ever  since  his 
childhood  days,  but  who  to-day  stands  as  an  example 
of  the  rising  generation  of  the  stage.  The  other  in- 
stance of  Mr.  Woods'  perspicacity  is  seen  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  Julian  Eltinge,  one  of  the  most  consummate  ar- 
tists the  American  stage  has  developed  in  many  years. 
Mr.  Eltinge  is  the  only  impersonator  of  the  opposite 
sex  who  has  possessed  the  skill  and  artistry  to  over- 
come absolutely  the  prejudice  which  has  always  here- 
tofore existed  in  connection  with  portrayals  of  thii 
type,  but  Mr.  Eltinge  is  unique  in  that  he  is  really  an 
actor  and  that  his  public  has  been  created  through 
appreciation  of  his  having  mastered  perhaps  the  most 
difficult  as  well  as  the  most  delicate  of  artistic  stage 
portrayals. 

Appended  are  two  box  office  statements  showing  the 
exact  gross  receipts  of  a  matinee  and  evening  per- 
formance in  Boston  where  Mr.  Eltinge  appeared  on 
February  22,  1911. 


20  C&e   Stage   in   tfte 


BOSTON  THEATRE 

Frohman-Harris  Corporation,  Lessees 
CHARLES  FROHMAN  Managing 
WILLIAM  HARRIS  Directors 

TREASURER'S  STATEMENT 

Boston,  February  22,  Matinee,  1911. 

Engagement  of  Julian  Eltinge. 
Presenting  "The  Fascinating  Widow.*' 
Weather,  Good. 

No.      Position.  Prices.          $  Cts. 

18  Box  Seats 2  00            36  00 

1124  Orchestra 1  50        1686  00 

Orchestra 1  00 

186  Balcony 1  00          186  00 

400  Dress  Circle 75          300  00 

362  Family  Circle 50          181  00 

General  Admission 1  00 

648  Gallery 25          162  00 

Exchange 1  50 

27  Exchange   1  00            27  00 

Exchange 75 

Exchange   50 

Exchange 25 

Total $2578  00 

WM.  H.  LOTHROP. 


Ctoentietft    Cetttutp  21 


BOSTON  THEATRE 

Frohman-Harris  Corporation,  Lessees 
CHARLES  FROHMAN  Managing 
WILLIAM  HARRIS  Directors 

TREASURER'S   STATEMENT 

Boston,  February  22, 1911. 

Engagement  of  Julian  Eltinge. 
Presenting  "The  Fascinating  Widow." 
Weather,  Stormy. 

No.      Position.  Prices.          $  Cts. 

15  Box  Seats $2  00            30  00 

1124  Orchestra 1  50        1686  00 

Orchestra 1  00 

186  Balcony 1  00          186  00 

400  Dress  Circle 75          300  00 

362  Family  Circle ,  50          181  00 

General  Admission 1  00 

Exchange 1  50 

18  Exchange    1  00            18  00 

Exchange 75 

Exchange   50 

Exchange 25 

276  Gallery    25            69  00 

Total $2470  00 

WM.  H.  LOTHROP. 


22 Cfte    ^tage    in    t&e 

The  season  of  1911-12  brought  Mr.  Woods  forth  as 
an  impresario  and  surely  this  is  indeed  an  interesting 
spectacle,  but  again  has  Mr.  Woods  shown  his  fine 
discernment,  for  in  the  selection  of  Marguerite  Sylva 
to  head  an  operatic  organization,  the  intrepid  "direc- 
tor" has  made  the  best  guess  of  his  career.  He  could 
not  have  done  better  in  a  world-wide  search,  and  if 
the  important  matter  of  a  vehicle,  worthy  of  his  star, 
is  successfully  passed  over,  a  real  queen  of  light  opera 
will  begin  to  reign.  Owing  to  illness  Miss  Sylva  was 
unable  to  appear  in  New  York  at  the  outset  of  the  sea- 
son, but  since  her  recovery  success  has  been  positive. 

David  Belasco,  producing  as  he  does,  only  successes, 
and  confining  his  offerings  solely  to  those  that  he  is 
able  to  stage  personally,  has  made  a  superb  record  for 
himself  during  the  season  of  1910-11;  two  of  his  new 
productions  were  potent  enough  to  constitute  the  at- 
traction of  an  entire  season  in  New  York — "Nobody's 
Widow"  wherein  Blanche  Bates  was  provided  with 
the  best  vehicle  of  her  magnificent  career  and  "The 
Concert",  in  which  Leo  Dietrichstein  covered  hinv 
self  with  new  glory  as  a  playwright  and  established 
himself  as  of  the  best  stellar  timbre  as  a  player.  Both 
of  these  productions  were  in  true  Belasco  form,  and 
the  results  financially  are  best  expressed  in  the  fol- 
lowing, voiced  by  an  observing  colleague: 

"Belasco  has  not  as  many  enterprises  as  some  of  the 
big  producing  firms,  but  he  evolves  only  enduring  suc- 
cesses, so  that  when  the  season  is  over,  it  is  generally 
found  that  he  has  made  as  much  of  the  filthy  lucre  as 
any  one  managerial  concern  in  this  country." 

Mr.  Belasco  has  provided  David  Warfield  with  a 
new  vehicle,  which,  produced  rather  late  in  the  sea- 


Ctoentictf)    Ccnturp 23 

son  of  1910-11,  was  not  presented  in  New  York  until 
the  Fall  of  1912,  but  the  results,  artistically  and 
financially,  have  been  fully  up  to  expectations,  and 
when  we  consider  that  Mr.  Warfield  is  now  regarded 
as  an  attraction  who  can  draw  from  $15,000  to  $20,000 
a  week,  these  expectations  were  not  insignificant.  Mr. 
Belasco's  activity  during  the  year  was  greatly  inter- 
fered with  owing  to  much  illness  in  his  family  and 
because  of  the  demise  of  his  aged  father  in  California 
and  also  that  of  his  youngest  daughter. 

Frederic  Thompson  made  several  new  productions 
during  the  year,  but  unlike  other  seasons  in  the  recent 
past,  he  was  unable  to  score  a  New  York  success  with 
his  newer  offerings,  but  Mr.  Thompson  possesses  a 
splendid  array  of  attractions  as  a  result  of  his  activity 
in  other  years,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  he  will  be 
found  a  formidable  factor  again  when  the  new  season  is 
fairly  on  its  way.  Among  Mr.  Thompson's  attractions, 
Robert  Milliard  in  "A  Fool  There  Was"  has  been  the 
most  compelling;  Mr.  Hilliard  has  always  held  his 
public,  and  no  player  before  the  public  has  a  larger 
following.  This  is  so  true  that  the  demand  for  return 
dates  has  been  persistent  ever  since  Mr.  Hilliard  has 
been  seen  in  his  present  offering.  It  is  not  to  be 
questioned  that  the  tremendous  vaudeville  following, 
created  by  this  popular  actor,  has  served  him  well  in 
his  stellar  tours.  At  any  rate  the  records  achieved  in 
the  last  two  years  by  Mr.  Hilliard  are  such  as  any 
star  would  be  proud  of.  Four  engagements  within  a 
year  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  in  New  York  tells 
its  own  story,  and  the  same  feat  was  accomplished 
in  Philadelphia.  One  can  only  conjecture  what  sort 
of  welcome  "handsome  Bob"  would  receive  were  he 


24  _  Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

to  elect  to  return  to  the  "twice-a-day"  field,  even  tem- 
porarily. Mr.  Hilliard  is  now  under  the  direction  of 
Messrs.  Klaw  and  Erlanger. 

Much  of  the  success  in  this  instance  is  due  to  the 
splendid  business  direction,  for  Mr.  Milliard's  affairs 
are  looked  after  by  E.  D.  Price,  perhaps  the  best  avant 
courier  in  this  country  and  also  the  highest  salaried 
man  in  his  line. 


E.  D.  Price  was  born  at  Tecumseh,  Mich.,  the  son 
of  a  pioneer  physician  of  Lansing  and  Jackson.  Was 
a  page  in  the  Michigan  Legislature;  is  an  alumnus  of 
the  law  department  of  Michigan  University;  admitted 
to  the  Bar  in  Detroit  and  San  Francisco;  identified 
as  dramatic  and'  sporting  writer  with  Detroit  news- 
papers for  ten  years.  He  was  the  manager  and  sub- 
stitute of  the  famous  "Sho-wae-cae-mettes"  of  Mich- 
igan, whom  he  took  to  England  in  1878  —  the  first 
American  amateur  four  to  row  for  the  Steward's 
Challenge  Cup  at  the  Henley  Regatta.  Has  managed 
theatres  from  San  Francisco  to  London,  and  directed 
the  fortunes  of  John  McCullough,  Richard  Mansfield, 
Madame  Ristori,  Mrs.  Carter,  Anna  Held,  Robert 
Hilliard  (past  three  years),  and  other  distinguished 
stars.  His  administration  of  the  Alcazar,  San  Fran- 
cisco, made  it  the  representative  stock  theatre  of 
America  for  the  four  years  previous  to  the  disaster. 


Joseph  M.  Gaites  has  come  forward  vigorously  since 
the  issue  of  the  last  volume;  in  fact,  his  place  among 
modern  producers  is  decidedly  in  the  front  rank.  Per- 


Ctoentietft   Centutg 25 

haps  Mr.  Gaites*  meteoric  career  is  due  to  the  remark- 
able results  achieved  with  his  first  important  offering. 
At  any  rate,  it  was  the  manner  in  which  he  evolved 
"Three  Twins"  from  Charles  Dickson's  "Incog."  that 
established  the  present  custom  of  making  over  suc- 
cessful farces  and  comedies  into  bright  and  big  mu- 
sical comedy  productions,  though  there  has  been  no  in- 
stance where  the  plan  has  availed  to  the  extent  that  it 
did  with  Mr.  Gaites'  initial  effort. 

In  the  Spring  of  1911  Mr.  Gaites  made  a  noteworthy 
production  of  "Thais,"  a  work  that  had  found  much 
vogue  in  its  original  operatic  form  at  the  Manhattan 
Opera  House  with  Mary  Garden  in  the  title  role.  This 
was  indeed  a  daring  undertaking,  in  that  it  is  very  rare 
that  great  expenditure  has  ever  been  justified  in 
transforming  grand  operas  into  plays  or  spectacles, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  had  "Thais"  been  first 
introduced  to  the  New  York  public  as  Mr.  Gaites  pre- 
sented it,  the  financial  outcome  would  have  been  more 
favorable. 

Another  successful  Gaites  enterprise  was  the  launch- 
ing, also  in  the  Spring  of  1911,  of  Ralph  Herz,  a  come- 
dian of  marked  personality,  as  a  stellar  figure  in  "Dr. 
de  Luxe."  The  production  was  elaborate  and  quite 
unique;  critical  opinion,  however,  was  somewhat 
mixed,  with  the  result  that  a  long  run  was  not  at- 
tempted, but  this  offering  has  been  very  well  received 
out-of-town. 

The  most  ambitious  effort  so  far  in  Mr.  Gaites'  ca- 
reer unquestionably  has  been  his  latest  offering.  It  ia 
seldom  indeed  that  any  production  has  ever  been  af- 
forded the  unanimous  approval  of  the  public  press  as 
has  been  the  case  with  "The  Enchantress"  in  which 


26 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfie 

Miss  Kitty  Gordon  has  made  a  most  successful  stellar 
debut.  The  New  York  Theatre  has  not  had  an  attrac- 
tion within  its  walls  since  its  erection  that  has  drawn 
larger  audiences,  or  that  gave  such  intense  satisfac- 
tion. The  production,  while  very  costly,  will  pay  for 
itself  in  a  very  few  weeks,  if  the  patronage,  said  to 
amount  to  a  total  of  $20,000  weekly,  is  maintained  on 
tour. 

Messrs.  Comstock  and  Gest,  though  young  men, 
are  by  no  means  representative  of  the  new  generation. 
Mr.  Comstock  comes  from  the  old  school  of  managers, 
in  that  his  experience  was  obtained  greatly  through 
his  long  service  in  the  business  department  of  the  Ca- 
sino in  New  York ;  while  Mr.  Gest,  once  a  ticket  specu- 
lator, by  reason  of  much  thrift  and  an  ingratiating 
personality,  has  amassed  a  considerable  fortune  and 
become  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  amusement  world. 
The  two  came  together  in  recent  years,  and,  while  not 
partners  in  all  of  their  undertakings,  constitute  a  firm 
that  is  constantly  raising  the  level  of  their  offerings. 
The  most  notable  of  their  stage  presentations  is  the 
large  body  of  Russian  dancers  which,  in  conjunction 
with  Miss  Gertrude  Hoffmann,  they  imported  from 
Europe.  It  is,  however,  believed  among  experienced 
persons  that  this  enterprise  would  have  achieved 
greater  artistic,  as  well  as  financial  results,  had  the 
presentation  been  originally  effected  in  one  of  our 
large  opera  houses,  rather  than  in  the  music  hall, 
where  the  debut  took  place.  Moreover,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  the  fine  art  expressed  by  this  organ- 
ization as  a  whole,  was  not  distinctly  over  the  heads 
of  the  blase  audience  that  is  wont  to  frequent  New 


Ctoentietj)    Centtirg 27 

York's  latest  type  of  music  halls,  such  as  the  Winter 
Garden  before  referred  to. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  season  of  1911-12,  the 
Folies  Bergeres,  after  an  auspicious  inauguration,  and 
a  period  of  seeming  prosperity,  was  abandoned  by  its 
projectors,  Messrs.  Harris  &  Lasky,  and  became  late 
in  October  of  the  same  year  the  Fulton  Theatre.  The 
cause  of  the  fiasco,  however,  was  of  a  nature  not  wholly 
apparent  or  at  least  not  revealed,  though  the  outcome 
was  due  to  the  same  conditions  which  brought  about 
the  undoing  of  Koster  &  Bials  and  the  Olympia,  now 
the  New  York  Theatre,  in  that  a  sensational  attraction 
over  which  a  public  can  rave,  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  continued  success.  The  Folies  Bergeres  needed  a 
few  Gaby  Deslys  instead  of  the  Ethel  Leveys  and 
other  familiar  faces  its  direction  was  enabled  to  pre- 
sent. The  idea  was  excellent ;  the  plan  was  not  ahead 
of  its  day ;  the  real  explanation  of  the  declining  vogue 
lies  in  the  lack  of  compelling  sensational  attractions 
without  which  the  Paris  house  of  the  same  name  would 
fail.  Some  day,  not  so  far  off  at  that,  some  entrepre- 
neur will  profit  from  the  experience  of  Messrs.  Har- 
ris &  Lasky,  and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  next 
effort  in  this  line  came  from  the  managers,  now  promi- 
nent in  the  regular  vaudeville  field  who  are  gradually 
being  brought  face  to  face  with  a  very  difficult  prob- 
lem, that  of  finding  attractions  sufficiently  strong  to 
justify  the  difference  in  prices  between  those  charged 
for  admission  to  their  theatres  and  those  prevailing  in 
the  group  of  "pop"  vaudeville  theatres,  controlled  by 
such  managers  as  Marcus  I/oew  and  William  Fox. 

The  advent  of  Mme.  Simone  in  this  country  has  been 
characterized  by  the  same  circumstances  prevailing 


28 Cfte   %>tage   in   tfte 

in  the  entourage  of  Mme.  Rejane  and  Mme.  Hading, 
save  that  the  last-comer  spoke  her  lines  in  English,  a 
procedure  that  has  nearly  always  detracted  from  the 
artistic  results  since  the  day  when  Augustin  Daly  per- 
suaded Mme.  Fanny  Janauschek — one  of  the  three 
greatest  players  of  her  sex  in  the  last  half  century— 
to  master  our  language.  The  only  instance  where  suc- 
cess was  achieved  in  the  interim,  was  in  the  case  of 
Mme.  Modjeska,  but  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that 
the  Simone  tour  would  have  been  propitious,  had  the 
lady  elected  to  appear  here  in  her  native  tongue. 
Foreign  stars  at  increased  prices  of  admission  have 
usually  fared  ill  in  America,  save  in  the  extraordinary 
instances  of  the  incomparable  Bernhardt  and  the  il- 
lustrious Eleanora  Duse.  The  public  of  modern  times 
is  more  wont  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  the  distinctly 
sensational  figures  of  the  stage,  rather  than  at  that 
of  the  merely  artistic.  But  if  Mme.  Simone's  advent 
proved  a  disappointment  for  Messrs.  Liebler  and  Com- 
pany, they  surely  have  had  much  to  compensate  them 
for  this  during  the  season  of  1911-12,  for  this  firm  has 
again  scored  a  triumph  with  a  Louis  N.  Parker  play, 
and  it  is  significant  that  George  Arliss  remained  longer 
at  Wallack's  with  "Disraeli"  than  did  the  very  excellent 
company  presenting  Mr.  Parker's  "Pomander  Walk." 
At  the  Hudson  Theatre  in  January,  1912,  Mme.  Simone 
achieved  a  great  personal  triumph  in  "The  Return  from 
Jerusalem." 

The  success  of  "The  Garden  of  Allah,"  while  an- 
ticipated, has  been  so  far  truly  extraordinary.  Although 
the  scale  of  prices  has  been  increased  even  in  the  very 
large  auditorium  of  the  Century  Theatre,  the  capacity 
has  been  tested  during  several  weeks,  and  as  this 


c". 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  20 

means  weekly  gross  receipts  of  about  $25,000,  one  may 
well  question  whether  the  New  Theatre  was  really 
wrongly  constructed.  There  are  many  discerning  per- 
sons who  assume  that  the  superb  edifice  at  Central 
Park  West  may  yet  revert  to  its  original  use,  even  go- 
ing so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  establishment  was 
leased  to  Mr.  Tyler  for  the  very  purpose  of  determin- 
ing whether  the  problem  there  was  of  a  managerial 
character. 

This  viewpoint  is  somewhat  borne  out  by  the  present 
status  of  the  new  New  Theatre  which  seems  to  be 
hanging  in  the  balance,  rather  than  having  been  wholly 
abandoned  by  the  founders  as  announced  in  the  daily 
press.  These  gentlemen  still  possess  their  original  es- 
tablishment, and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  present 
conditions  in  the  field  of  the  theatre  have  prompted 
the  founders  to  suspend  active  operations  temporarily. 
Nevertheless,  they  are  all  sincerely  devoted  to  the 
original  idea,  and  at  some  future  day  will  come  forth 
with  even  greater  impetus  than  seems  to  them  ad- 
visable at  this  time. 

No  one  familiar  with  the  circumstances  believes  that 
the  endowed  theatre  has  passed  for  all  time,  and  it 
will  not  surprise  "those  in  the  know,"  if  Mr.  Tyler  is 
invited  to  assume  the  direction  when  the  day  comes  for 
the  founders  to  put  the  magnificent  playhouse  on  Cen- 
tral Park  West  to  its  original  use.  This  gentleman  has 
shown  every  qualification  for  such  an  enterprise, 
though  the  writer  has  no  idea  that  he  would  be  avail- 
able for  an  occupation  so  confining,  in  view  of  his 
enormous  responsibilities  in  the  firm  of  which  he  is  the 
active  head. 

The  endowed  theatre,  however,  would  not  have  been 


30  Cfte§>tagetnt!)e 

alone  in  another  year  in  its  plans  for  high-grade  plays 
and  players.  The  great  success  of  stock  companies  in 
the  large  cities  outside  the  metropolis  and  in  nearly 
all  of  the  cities  of  moderate  population,  has  awakened 
more  than  one  metropolitan  manager  to  the  need  of 
such  organizations  in  the  greater  city.  The  effort  of 
Messrs.  Sire  and  Lackaye  at  the  Bijou  Theatre  is 
merely  indicative  of  the  attitude  of  others  in  this  re- 
spect. It  is  important,  too,  that  before  the  founders  of 
the  endowed  theatre  resume  active  presentations,  New 
York  will  hail  the  advent  of  its  first  "intimate  theatre," 
an  event  that  may  well  command  an  equal  interest 
from  the  play-going  public.  The  "intimate  theatre"  is 
the  idea  of  Winthrop  Ames,  who  was  the  artistic 
director  of  the  New  Theatre,  and  it  is  said  that  he  was 
prompted  to  embark  in  the  undertaking  through  his 
observations  while  directing  the  two-season  output 
there. 

With  Mr.  Ames  committed  to  the  intimate  theatre, 
and  with  Mr.  Augustus  Thomas  emphatic  in  his  de- 
cision not  to  accept  the  managerial  position  in  the  new 
New  Theatre,  the  timbre  available  at  the  time  of  this 
writing  is  not  plentiful.  Aside  from  Mr.  Tyler,  per- 
haps the  best  selection  would  be  Mr.  Daniel  Frohman, 
inasmuch  that  his  brother  Charles  is  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  Mr.  Tyler,  being  burdened  with  great  outside 
responsibilities.  Daniel  Frohman  has  indicated  a 
gradual  curtailment  in  his  enterprises  by  leasing  the 
Lyceum  Theatre  to  his  brother,  thus  leaving  to  the 
elder  Frohman  only  his  interest  in  two  or  three  plays, 
and  these  would  hardly  be  a  barrier  to  his  accepting  an 
offer  from  the  founders.  It  is  even  reported  that  the 
transfer  of  the  Lyceum  Theatre  was  due  to  the  receipt 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 31 

of  an  invitation  from  the  founders  to  become  the  head 
of  their  ennobling  enterprise. 

That  the  choice  rests  between  Messrs.  Tyler  and 
Frohman  is  quite  certain;  the  former  is  a  very  much 
younger  man  than  Mr.  Frohman  and  his  experience, 
particularly  in  repertoire  companies  is  by  no  means  as 
large.  Nevertheless,  all  things  considered,  these  two 
gentlemen  are  about  evenly  possessed  of  the  requisites 
for  what  is  unquestionably  the  most  important  artistic 
directorship  that  the  field  of  the  theatre  in  modern 
times  can  offer. 

To  return  to  "the  intimate  theatre,"  there  is  very 
much  to  indicate  that  its  advent  is  to  be  accompanied 
by  activity  and  co-operation,  such  as  has  not  been 
forthcoming  in  previous  efforts  to  uplift  the  stage  with 
undertakings  involving  large  financial  outlay  from 
private  sources.  Already  a  similar  establishment  is 
well  on  the  way  in  Boston.  Chicago,  too,  has  been 
provided  by  Donald  Robertson  with  a  theatre  and  com- 
pany, erected  and  equipped  on  lines  quite  the  same. 

In  Washington,  D.  C.,  the  Edson-Bradleys  have 
erected  a  bijou  playhouse  seating  five  hundred  per- 
sons, to  be  inaugurated  in  the  Spring  of  1912. 

These  intimate  theatres,  should  their  vogue  become 
large,  will  gradually  evolve  into  "club"  theatres,  such 
as  have  found  vogue  abroad ;  but  why  has  some  one  not 
availed  himself  of  the  pretty  little  Berkeley  Lyceum 
Theatre  at  Forty-fourth  Street,  near  Fifth  Avenue,  for, 
while  its  stage  is  not  large — and  the  stage  of  an  in- 
timate theatre  is  not  to  be  small  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  auditorium — still  one  would  suppose  that 
so  bijou  a  playhouse,  in  so  central  and  fashionable  a 


32 Cfte    %>tage    In    tSe 

locale,  would  become  useful,  if  it  is  really  true  that 
we  are  emerging  into  the  intimate  theatre  era. 

The  season  of  1911-12  has  been  notable  also  for  the 
successful  advent  in  this  country  of  the  Irish  and 
Scotch  players;  the  former  spent  almost  their  entire 
allotted  period  in  Boston  at  the  new  Plymouth  Theatre, 
and  their  representations,  while  arousing  a  somewhat 
strenuous  controversy,  elicited  the  applause  of  the 
public  and  the  praise  of  the  critics,  while  the  financial 
outcome  was  on  the  constructive  side  of  the  ledger. 
The  appreciation  of  these  bodies  of  natural  players  was 
so  apparent  that  some  have  ventured  to  predict  per- 
manent Irish  and  Scotch  theatres  maintained  by 
stock  organizations  in  New  York  at  no  distant  date. 

The  Scotch  players,  at  least  if  all  their  offerings  are 
to  be  on  the  same  plane  as  that  which  characterized 
the  initial  effort,  will  not  have  to  depend  solely  on  their 
own  countrymen ;  in  fact,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  run 
of  "When  Bunty  Pulls  the  Strings,"  at  the  Comedy 
Theatre,  has  required  any  support  other  than  that  of  a 
local  character.  At  any  rate  the  patronage  has  been 
quite  of  the  same  calibre  one  sees  when  a  compelling 
attraction  holds  the  boards  of  a  playhouse  wholly  aside 
from  the  nationality  of  the  players. 

The  passing  of  Madison  Square  Garden  is  another 
event  of  the  year  that  cannot  be  ignored.  The  gentle- 
men responsible  for  this  greatly-needed  institution, 
have  been  unable  to  solve  the  problem  of  making  the 
place  pay ;  even  the  resort  to  motion  pictures  failing  to 
attract  multitudes  to  the  big  structure.  The  trouble 
has  been  that  of  finding  a  profitable  usage  in  the  Sum- 
mer season;  the  fixed  charges  annually  had  been  far 
greater  than  the  income,  though  it  does  seem  a  pity 


f,  .* 


Ctoentiett)    Centitrg  33 

that  with  expansion  going  on  in  every  direction,  the 
promoters  of  this  very  worthy  enterprise  could  not 
afford  to  discount  the  expected  increase  in  the  number 
of  lessees  that  another  year  or  two  would  naturally 
bring  forth.  However,  New  York  will  not  be  long 
without  a  vast  auditorium  for  the  various  uses  that  the 
Garden  has  been  utilized  for,  and  ere  these  pages  are 
before  the  reader,  a  new  edifice  further  uptown  and 
planned  even  on  a  greater  scale  than  before,  will  have 
been  decided  upon.  Captain  Dressell  and  Charles 
Schroeder,  both  long  identified  with  the  Garden,  have 
been  active  factors  in  the  effort  to  perpetuate  New 
York's  largest  amusement  building. 

At  this  writing  there  is  every  indication  that  the  big 
Garden  will  be  saved  for  the  time  being. 


34 


CHAPTER  II 

The  grand  opera  situation  has  undergone  little 
change  since  the  issue  of  the  last  volume ;  the  absence 
of  Oscar  Hammerstein,  and  the  fact  that  New  York, 
with  its  five  million  inhabitants,  has  but  one  opera 
house,  has  undoubtedly  caused  increased  box  office  re- 
ceipts. It  is,  nevertheless,  quite  unlikely  that  the  New 
Theatre,  (the  Century)  and  the  Manhattan  Opera 
House  will  long  be  denied  to  operatic  endeavor.  The 
congestion  at  the  older  opera  house  has  already  reached 
a  state  where  the  capacity  of  the  auditorium  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  provide  for  the  regular  clientele  of  the  house 
to  which  has  now  been  added  the  very  large  public  cre- 
ated by  Mr.  Hammerstein,  together  with  that  very  im- 
portant element,  known  as  the  "Newly-Rich,"  who 
come  forth  each  year  in  increased  numbers  and  for 
whom  there  is  no  longer  any  room  in  the  sold-out 
Metropolitan. 

With  a  subscription  now  reported  to  be  very  close 
to  one  million  dollars  annually  and  with  the  length  of 
the  operatic  season  increased  to  the  longest  period  in 
operatic  history,  it  would  seem  as  if  at  least  one  of  the 
two  available  opera  houses  would  be  utilized  for  the 
lighter  grade  of  operas.  Moreover,  the  roster  of  the 
Metropolitan  now  contains  so  many  very  excellent  art- 
ists who  appear  but  rarely  that  the  need  of  another 
house  as  an  outlet  would  also  be  accompanied  by  eco- 
nomic benefits,  which  an  impresario  as  discerning  as 


Ctoentfetft    Centutg 35 

Sig.  Gatti  Casazza,  will  not  fail  to  recognize.  It  is  even 
possible  that  both  the  opera  houses  now  used  for  dra- 
matic performances,  will  in  due  course  be  devoted  to 
opera,  one  to  opera  comique,  the  other  to  opera  in  the 
vernacular.  Much  will  depend  on  the  outcome  of  the 
present  season,  when  such  works  as  "Natoma"  and 
"Mona"  will  have  had  their  fate  more  fully  determined. 
Undoubtedly  the  greatest  asset  the  enthusiasts  for  a 
national  opera  have,  is  Herr  Andreas  Dippel,  whose 
plans  ahead  denote  that  a  fair  proportion  of  the  season 
in  Chicago  and  Philadelphia  is  to  be  devoted  to  works 
by  native  composers  as  well  as  productions  in  the  ver- 
nacular of  some  of  the  staple  works  of  the  regular  rep- 
ertoire, even  those  of  Humperdinck,  Wagner  and 
Verdi.  The  increase  of  one  dollar  in  the  cost  of  the 
one  thousand  or  more  orchestra  chairs  in  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House  has  not  resulted  in  any  protest, 
thus  indicating  that  the  "Newly-Rich"  are  numerous 
enough  to  replace  any  reduction  in  the  regular  clientele. 
But  Sig.  Gatti  knew  his  book  well  when  he  elected  to 
increase  the  gross  receipts  one  thousand  dollars  per 
representation  in  this  manner,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  were  the  entire  dress  circle  also  made 
more  costly,  that  the  subscription  would  be  large 
enough  to  absorb  the  limited  capacity;  in  fact,  it  is 
already  reported  that  the  dress  circle  stalls  will  be  held 
at  four  dollars  each  seat  in  another  year. 

One  hears  from  the  unenlightened  a  protest  against 
these  increases,  but  conditions  in  this  second  decade 
of  the  Twentieth  Century  are  such  that  no  impresario 
can  go  on  each  year  increasing  the  outlay  without  a 
commensurate  addition  to  the  income.  In  the  days  of 
Grau  and  Conried,  the  weekly  expenses  of  New  York's 


£6 Cfie    ^tage    in    tfre 

opera  house  had  reached  the  $50,000  mark;  the  com- 
pensation to  singers,  conductors,  chorus  and  orchestra 
has  been  growing  larger  all  the  time,  despite  the  tre- 
mendous additional  income  to  the  artists  from  such 
devices  as  the  phonograph.  The  fact  that  Caruso  earns 
$100,000  a  year  as  a  result  of  his  vocal  records,  and 
that  Tetrazzini,  who  five  years  ago  offered  to  give  for 
$1,000  that  which  the  Victor  Company  paid  a  bonus 
of  $35,000  for  a  year  ago,  has  had  no  effect  on  these 
artists,  and  their  honorarium  has  been  increased  each 
year. 

The  "budget"  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  is 
now  something  colossal;  $70,000  a  week  is  the  CS" 
timated  outlay.  This  means  that  if  seven  per- 
formances are  given  each  week,  it  is  requisite  that  an 
average  of  $10,000  a  performance  must  be  drawn  into 
the  box-office.  Such  a  thing  as  a  dividend  has  been 
unknown  since  Mr.  Grau's  regime  there,  but  he  did 
not  have  to  pay  $150,000  in  royalties,  nor  was  it  his 
policy  to  pay  $30,000  annually  to  the  impresario  as 
is  the  case  in  modern  times.  The  Riccordis  of  Milan 
profit  to  a  greater  extent  from  American  operatic  in- 
stitutions than  all  others  combined;  in  fact,  it  is  de- 
clared that  the  amazing  total  of  $200,000  will  go  into 
the  coffers  of  the  Milan  publishers,  contributed  not 
only  by  the  Metropolitan  and  Boston  Opera  Houses, 
but  also  by  Messrs  Savage,  Aborn  and  Jeanotte,  the 
latter  of  Montreal. 

Mr.  Dippel's  procedure  by  which  he  has  eliminated 
the  Puccini  operas  from  the  repertoire  of  the  opera 
at  Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  has  aroused  much  dis- 
cussion. The  outcome  of  this  action  is  awaited  with 
intense  interest;  no  one  can  doubt  that  Mr.  Dippel 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 37 

has  endeavored  to  make  good  the  loss  to  his  sub- 
scribers by  presenting  an  otherwise  superlative  pro- 
gramme for  the  season. 

The  important  phase  of  the  operatic  situation  at  this 
time  lies  in  the  public  reception  of  novelties.  Up  to  a 
very  short  time  ago  the  production  of  a  novelty  in 
grand  opera  meant  bankruptcy  to  the  impresario,  and 
it  remained  for  Oscar  Hammerstein  to  prove  that  new 
works  interpreted  in  a  worthy  manner  would  merit  and 
receive  a  public  response.  The  great  acclaim  with 
which  the  Puccini  operas  were  welcomed  also  had 
much  to  do  with  the  improved  conditions. 

The  production  of  Horatio  Parker  and  Brian  Hook- 
er's native  grand  opera,  "Mona,"  will  have  a  great 
effect  on  the  "opera  in  English"  movement,  though 
in  the  event  of  a  fiasco  nothing  would  be  proved,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  "Natoma"  will  fail  to  show  in- 
creased public  interest  in  its  second  season,  but  even  if 
these  and  a  half  dozen  other  new  operas  by  native 
composers  meet  disaster,  the  struggle  will  go  on  until 
the  day  comes,  when  the  best  grand  operas  are  written 
and  composed  in  America.  This  may  seem  a  bold 
prophecy,  but  who  will  deny  that  native  plays  are  now 
far  more  potent  than  the  foreign  efforts,  in  fact,  nearly 
all  of  the  Broadway  theatres  at  this  time  are  housing 
a  "hit,"  and  the  great  majority  of  these  productions 
were  contributed  by  home  writers.  It  was  not  so 
very  long  ago  that  plays  by  American  writers  were 
regarded  almost  with  ridicule  in  the  managerial  sanc- 
tums. This  reversal  of  attitude  will  be  repeated  with 
grand  operas,  only  the  evolution  will  take  a  little 
longer  to  effect. 

Considerable  attention  was  attracted  toward  a  hasty 


38  CfteS>tageint&e 

semi-public  statement  made  by  the  eminent  composer 
and  critic,  Reginald  de  Koven,  wherein  he  was  quoted 
as  saying  that  the  conduct  of  our  opera  houses  is 
un-American,  and  many  other  remarks  that  the  gen- 
tleman must  have  deeply  regretted,  when  he  saw  them 
in  print,  coming  as  they  did  on  the  very  eve  of  the  in- 
auguration of  a  new  opera  season. 

Mr.  de  Koven  is  wrong ;  such  men  as  Otto  H.  Kahn, 
Clarence  Mackay  and  Messrs.  Vanderbilt  and  Astor 
have  achieved  more  in  the  last  few  years  than  their 
predecessors  have  for  generations.  These  gentlemen 
have  actually  demanded  that  the  native  grand  opera  be 
included,  and  have  they  not  accomplished  the  pro- 
duction of  three  American  grand  operas  within  one 
year  presented  in  English?  Did  Maurice  Grau  ever 
even  think  of  the  production  of  an  American  opera? 
What  would  have  happened  to  the  man  who  would 
have  had  the  temerity  to  ask  the  late  Herr  Conried  to 
listen  to  a  score  that  was  the  work  of  an  American? 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  present  regime  at 
the  Metropolitan  is  by  far  the  most  public-spirited 
that  has  ever  been  known  there,  and  it  is  quite  the 
same  in  Chicago  and  Philadelphia,  where  Mr.  Dippel 
is  doing  things  for  "opera  in  English"  that  indicate  a 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  outcome. 

If  fault  must  be  found  with  the  present  regime  at  the 
Metropolitan,  one  may  find  a  real  incentive  for  com- 
plaint in  what  is  known  as  the  Caruso  situation.  No 
one  who  feels  a  reverential  interest  in  New  York's 
majestic  opera  house  can  but  regret  that  the  career  of 
this  institution  seems  wholly  to  centre  around  the 
illustrious  Italian  tenor  who,  during  the  last  two  sea- 
sons, was  forced  to  abandon  his  artistic  duties  in  the 


Ctoentictf)    Centutp  39 

middle  of  their  duration,  thus  upsetting  the  entire 
policy  of  the  opera  house. 

It  is  a  lamentable  condition  when  an  opera  house 
with  an  abono  of  nearly  one  million  dollars  is  forced 
to  withdraw  one  of  its  novelties,  such  as  "The  Girl," 
for  the  simple  and  only  reason  that  it  had  no  one  to 
take  the  place  of  Caruso  when  he  became  incapaci- 
tated. 

Caruso  will  not  always  be  with  us.  What  is  to 
happen  when  his  unexampled  career  is  ended  ?  Surely 
our  opera  will  go  on !  The  writer  recalls  that  Jean  de 
Reszke's  career  came  to  an  end  from  just  such  con- 
ditions as  those  which  now  surround  New  York's 
idolized  tenor.  It  is  true  that  Caruso  is  a  much 
younger  man,  but  if,  which  heaven  forbid!  Caruso 
should  be  unable  to  finish  the  season  of  1911-12,  will 
the  public  again  be  forced  to  tolerate  an  altered  reper- 
toire? Can  it  be  possible  that  no  one  can  be  had  to 
replace  Caruso?  Surely  either  Bonci  or  Anselmi,  if 
available,  could  prevent  upset  conditions.  Fancy  the 
spectacle  of  the  first  opera  house  in  the  world  going 
into  mourning  because  its  leading  tenor  is  ill ! 

Undoubtedly  the  most  contributing  cause  of  the 
breakdown  of  the  great  tenor  in  the  middle  of  two  con- 
secutive seasons  was  the  effort  of  the  direction  to  have 
him  sing  three  or  four  times  a  week,  while  Caruso 
himself  has  defied  the  natural  laws  governing  a  voice 
such  as  he  possesses  by  indulging  in  the  nerve-racking 
seances  so  necessary,  in  order  that  future  generations 
may  be  enabled  to  enthuse  over  his  artistry  through 
the  vocal  records  which  are  said  to  yield  Caruso  quite 
as  much  income  as  his  operatic  appearances.  That 
this  is  true  is  best  evidenced  by  the  caution  the  opera 


Ctoentiett)    Centutg 41 

rooted  ideas,  particularly  in  regard  to  operatic  novel- 
ties. Mr.  Abbey  and  himself  spent  $50,000  on  "Sa- 
lambo,"  but  it  ran  just  two  nights,  and  it  was  quite  the 
same  with  other  new  works,  but  it  took  Oscar  Hain- 
merstein  to  bring  about  a  change. 

On  November  13,  1911,  and  as  is  his  wont,  the  in- 
defatigable Oscar  inaugurated  his  new  opera  house 
in  London,  on  the  very  night,  in  fact  the  very  hour, 
he  originally  scheduled  for  the  event.  Surely  this 
man  is  something  more  than  a  wonder;  he  is  a  ma- 
gician. That  America  possesses  such  an  impresario 
and  that  he  is  relegated  to  foreign  shores,  because  of 
financial,  rather  than  artistic  obligations,  is  a  strik- 
ing commentary  of  the  need  for  a  national  opera  house. 
Mr.  Hammerstein  is  now  at  the  age  when  his  vitality 
is  at  a  severe  test;  it  is  even  reported  that  his  health 
is  poor,  as  a  result  of  the  strain  attending  the  launch- 
ing of  the  foreign  enterprise  and  the  pitiful  spectacle 
of  this  greatly-needed  benefactor  drawing  on  his  re- 
maining vitality  in  order  that  he  may  glorify  his  career 
with  foreign  achievement  is  truly  to  be  deplored,  but 
alas !  it  was  always  thus.  Strakosch,  Maretzek,  Maple- 
son,  Abbey,  Grau,  Conried,  all  died  prematurely  as 
a  result  of  breakdown,  caused  by  excess  of  worry, 
characteristic  of  operatic  management.  Will  Oscar 
tempt  fate  to  the  last  or  will  he  be  wise  enough  to 
retire  and  enjoy  the  huge  profits  of  that  gold  mine  at 
Forty-second  Street  and  Broadway  which  has  always 
been  the  source  where  the  intrepid  director  would 
go  to  make  good  his  operatic  losses? 

At  this  writing  there  is  every  indication  that  Oscar 
Hammerstein  has  "arrived"  in  London.  If  it  is  really 
true  that  in  Felice  Lyne  the  impresario  has  discovered 


42  Cije^tageintfie 

another  Patti,  then  indeed  must  the  London  venture 
triumph,  for  in  all  other  respects  Oscar  has  "delivered 
the  goods"  to  the  Britishers. 

What  an  amazing  record  of  achievements  this  im- 
presario is  adding  to  his  already  astounding  career! 
Not  the  least  of  these  is  the  manner  in  which  the  wizard 
of  Forty-second  Street  and  Broadway  discovers  new 
operatic  timber.  We  all  know  that  the  minor  artists 
in  his  American  seasons  all  scored,  and  the  reports  from 
London  indicate  a  complete  triumph  for  all  the  new- 
comers, and  the  sensational  success  of  Orville  Harold 
and  Felice  Lyne  are  events  of  a  character  recorded 
perhaps  once  in  a  generation. 

Altogether,  the  outcome  of  Oscar's  English  venture 
is  now  not  so  doubtful,  but  why  is  such  a  gifted  genius 
in  operatic  direction  relegated  to  foreign  shores?  There 
is  just  one  establishment  where  he  permanently  be- 
longs, and  that,  as  I  have  before  stated,  is  at  the  opera 
house  at  Fortieth  Street  and  Broadway. 

•$»<§»«§• 

In  the  previous  volume  it  was  predicted  that  some 
of  the  desertions  from  the  so-called  theatrical  syndi- 
cate would  turn  out  to  be  of  a  temporary  nature.  At 
the  time  when  William  A.  Brady  and  Henry  W.  Sav- 
age followed  the  procedure  of  Liebler  and  Company  in 
affiliating  with  the  Messrs.  Shubert,  many  persons 
were  under  the  impression  that  a  stampede  would  fol- 
low, and  that  the  forces  of  the  older  booking  institution 
would  be  materially  weakened,  but  in  the  year  that 
has  passed  not  a  single  ally  of  Messrs.  Klaw  and  Er- 
langer  has  effected  a  change,  whereas  we  find  Mr. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 43 

Savage  booking  his  attractions  in  syndicate  houses. 
Lew  Fields  has  placed  William  Collier  at  the  Fulton 
Theatre,  and  Liebler  and  Company  have  arranged 
with  Henry  B.  Harris  for  Mme.  Simone  to  appear  at 
the  Hudson  Theatre,  while  the  same  firm  presented 
Gertrude  Elliott  in  "White  Magic"  at  the  Criterion 
Theatre  in  January,  1912,  and  also  presented  an  all-star 
cast  in  "Oliver  Twist"  at  the  New  Amsterdam 
Theatre  in  March,  1912.  Here  we  have  three  of  the 
most  important  of  the  allies  of  the  Messrs.  Shubert, 
indicating  friendly  relations  with  the  syndicate;  one 
need  not  be  surprised  if,  before  this  volume  appears, 
at  least  one  of  the  three  producing  firms  here  named, 
will  return  absolutely  to  the  syndicate  for  their 
bookings.  Since  the  above  was  written  Liebler  and 
Company  have  returned  absolutely  to  the  Theatrical 
Syndicate  for  bookings  for  their  many  attractions. 

Among  the  important  theatrical  managers,  control- 
ling large  chains  of  theatres  to  shift  their  bookings  from 
Klaw  and  Erlanger  to  so-called  independent  quarters, 
were  John  Cort  and  Julius  Cahn,  M.  Reis  and  Albert 
Weis.  Of  these  four  the  last  three  have  broken  away 
from  the  compact  effected  with  the  Messrs.  Shubert 
and  are  now  more  securely  intrenched  with  the  syn- 
dicate than  ever,  while  Mr.  Cort  is  affiliated  with  the 
latter  at  this  time  in  a  manner  not  thought  likely  a 
year  ago. 

In  the  Spring  of  1912  the  attractions  of  Daniel  V. 
Arthur,  formerly  booked  by  the  Messrs.  Shubert,  have 
also  reverted  to  the  syndicate.  Another  desertion  at 
the  same  period  was  Miss  Blanche  Ring. 

The  facts  in  the  case  are  simply  that  these  gentle- 
men now  realize  that  their  original  dissatisfaction  was 


44 Cfte   g)tage    in    tjje 

not  justified,  the  real  difficulty  having  been  the  dis- 
astrous business  conditions,  and  when  it  was  found 
that  things  were  getting  worse,  rather  than  better,  it 
was  only  natural  that  they  should  seek  to  resume  their 
former  relations  with  the  men  who,  after  all,  have 
always  endeavored  to  systematize  the  conduct  of  their 
vast  business  and  to  regulate  the  output;  and  it  is 
greatly  to  be  regretted  that  their  policy  and  procedure 
have  ever  been  interrupted,  for  it  can  not  be  denied 
that  much  of  the  distress  now  encountered  by  the  pro- 
ducing managers  is  greatly  due  to  a  lack  of  under- 
standing prevailing  among  theatrical  business  men 
during  the  past  two  years. 

Another  year  should  witness  the  fulfillment  of  the 
writer's  prophecy  of  a  general  understanding  between 
the  two  large  business  institutions  in  the  field  of  the 
theatre.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  two  are  to  oper- 
ate together  or  to  become  partners,  but  it  does  mean 
that  such  disastrous  conditions  as  have  been  recorded 
in  the  amusement  calling  the  last  two  years,  can 
only  be  avoided  by  an  end  of  the  friction  and  com- 
petition existing  at  present. 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  45 


CHAPTER  III 

During  the  season  of  1910-11  the  vaudeville  situa- 
tion became  more  complicated  than  it  has  been  at 
any  time  since  1894,  when  what  is  known  as  "the 
Keith  era"  was  fairly  inaugurated,  inasmuch  that  the 
men  who  have  amassed  large  fortunes  through  pre- 
sentation of  high-class  vaudeville,  have  been  con- 
fronted with  problems,  the  solution  of  which  will  be 
found  to  be  difficult,  if  they  are  to  preserve  the  patron- 
age which  has  been  theirs  for  so  long  a  period. 

The  most  important  event  in  this  line  of  theatrical 
endeavor  took  place  in  March,  1911,  when  William 
Morris,  a  man  who  has  been  for  more  than  fifteen 
years  an  interesting  and  important  figure  in  vaude- 
ville circles,  found  his  position  untenable,  which  re- 
sulted in  his  withdrawal  from  the  field,  not  only  as 
an  opponent  of  the  allied  interests,  known  as  the 
"United  Booking  Offices,"  but  by  reason  of  his  own 
alliance  with  Marcus  Loew,  Morris  ceased  to  be 
a  factor  in  the  presentation  of  high-grade  vaudeville. 
It  was  not  definitely  known  if  these  arrangements 
carry  any  understanding  that  this  brilliant  young  man 
is  to  remain  indefinitely  identified  with  the  junior  type 
of  vaudeville,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  he  will  present 
an  edifying  spectacle,  operating  under  such  limita- 
tions; and  we  will  have  to  wait  a  long  time  before 
another  such  figure  looms  up  on  the  horizon. 

As  long  as  William  Morris  was  an  active  oppo- 
nent of  the  larger  interests  in  vaudeville,  he  pro- 


46 Cfte   g)tage    in    tfte 

vided  the  latter  with  much  incentive,  and  this  in- 
centive is  now  lacking  and  will  so  remain  until  a 
"new  Moses"  comes  on  the  scene,  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  another  William  Morris  will  develop  in  the  lives 
of  the  present  generation  of  vaudeville  endeavorers. 

Marcus  Loew,  as  predicted  in  the  previous  volume, 
has  come  forward  in  the  last  year  with  decided  im- 
petus; no  career  in  the  history  of  the  theatre  is  more 
interesting  to  recite,  than  are  the  achievements  of  this 
extraordinary  man  in  the  last  five  years.  In  1907,  Mr. 
Loew  was  operating  a  penny  arcade  in  Harlem.  He 
was  quick  to  see  the  potency  of  the  motion  picture 
and  he  embraced  his  opportunity  with  much  vigor. 
Mr.  Loew,  in  the  short  space  of  five  years,  has  become 
not  only  a  multi-millionaire,  but  he  has  actually 
changed  the  theatrical  map.  He  has  a  score  of  thea- 
tres in  or  near  the  Greater  City,  and  among  those  are 
the  American,  the  National  (erected  by  him),  the 
Seventh  Avenue  (erected  by  him),  the  Circle,  the  Lin- 
coln Square,  the  Plaza  and  the  Yorkville,  while  he 
has  built  several  new  houses,  one  of  which,  in  the 
heart  of  the  city,  at  Thirty-first  Street  and  Sixth  Ave- 
nue, has  cost  one  million  dollars.  Another,  dedicated 
in  March,  1912,  on  Delancey  Street,  also  cost  nearly  a 
million  dollars. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  what  Mr.  Loew  has  done  that 
causes  the  vaudeville  situation  to  become  complicated ; 
it  is  rather  what  he  is  going  to  do.  For  this  man  is 
not  without  ambition,  and  he  will  not  be  content  to 
amass  millions,  hence  a  desire  on  his  part  to  raise  the 
level  of  his  stage  offerings  will  be  natural  enough. 
Mr.  Loew*s  theatres  are  of  very  large  seating  capacity, 
and  those  which  he  is  now  erecting  are  larger  than 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 47 

any  in  the  greater  city,  devoted  to  vaudeville.  The 
scale  of  prices  in  his  theatres  never  varies,  ranging 
from  ten  to  twenty-five  cents,  and  by  reason  of  the 
tremendous  patronage  and  the  large  capacity,  Mr. 
Loew  is  enabled  to  present  attractions  almost  as  good, 
as  those  seen  in  the  higher-priced  theatres.  Already 
the  spectacle  of  Amelia  Bingham  and  the  Four  Mor- 
tons, appearing  in  one  performance  in  a  ten-cent  thea- 
tre, has  been  on  view,  and  here  lies  the  seriousness  of 
the  problem  confronting  such  managers  as  Percy  G. 
Williams,  Keith  and  Proctor  and  others  of  their 
calibre.  Their  theatres  are  not  out  of  the  ordinary  as 
to  seating  capacity  and  they  have  been  presenting 
programmes,  already  costing  as  high  as  $4,000  a  week ; 
they  can  not  raise  the  prices,  nor  is  it  possible  for  them 
to  present  more  formidable  attractions,  and  this  is 
where  the  public  enters  on  the  scene! 

The  head  of  a  family  will  look  into  the  matter  of 
theatre-going  with  the  same  discernment  that  he  prac- 
tices in  the  purchase  of  other  necessaries,  and  he  will 
discover  that  he  can  take  a  family  of  six  to  one  of  Mr. 
Loew's  theatres  and  occupy  the  very  best  seats  for  a 
total  outlay  of  $1.50.  These  theatres  are  quite  as  in- 
viting as  any  in  the  city,  and  the  audiences  are  grad- 
ually improving  in  quality,  so  that  if  Mr.  Loew  con- 
tinues to  improve  the  quality  of  his  offerings  on  tha 
stage,  theatre-goers  will  refuse  to  pay  nine  dollars 
for  six  seats  in  the  high-priced  houses,  when  they  can 
get  quite  as  good  entertainment  for  one-sixth  of  the 
outlay. 

Messrs.  Keith  and  Proctor  (now  separated),  with 
that  shrewdness  which  has  characterized  their  entire 
business  career,  are  fully  aware  of  the  conditions  exist- 


48 Cfte    ^tage    in    tee 

ing,  and  of  the  seven  theatres  controlled  by  them  in 
New  York  City  alone — only  one — the  Fifth  Avenue,  is 
conducted  on  a  high-priced  basis,  and  even  in  this  in- 
stance the  policy  is  assumed  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting their  interests  in  the  United  Booking  Offices. 
Mr.  Proctor  has  also  a  dozen  theatres  in  the  smaller 
cities  near  New  York,  where,  under  the  competent  di- 
rection of  his  son,  F.  F.  Proctor,  Jr.,  he  is  making  tre- 
mendous annual  profits. 

During  the  year  the  advent  of  two  music  halls  of 
the  continental  type  have  further  complicated  the  sit- 
uation, and  if  the  patronage  of  these  is  sustained,  and 
the  public  responds  to  a  more  intimate  method  in  ca- 
tering to  them,  then,  indeed,  is  there  danger  that  the 
modern  vaudeville  theatre  at  high  prices  of  admission 
may  pass.  Its  vogue  has  lasted  nearly  two  decades 
and  has  created  more  millionaires  than  all  other 
branches  of  the  amusement  field  combined.  The 
vaudeville  managers  are  so  rich  that  they  can  regard 
the  situation  with  equanimity;  besides,  theatrical  men 
are  not  slow  to  adapt  themselves  to  circumstances,  so 
that  the  precedent,  already  established  by  Mr.  Loew 
at  the  American  Theatre,  and  by  Mr.  Fox  at  the  New 
York  Theatre,  may  be  followed  by  others,  for  the  rich 
vaudeville  manager  is  not  likely  to  permit  pride  to 
interfere  with  his  bank  account,  and  at  least  one  mag- 
nate has  already  intimated  that,  if  the  last  half  of  the 
season  of  1911-12  is  not  more  profitable  to  him  than 
was  that  of  1910-11,  he  will  change  the  policy  of  all 
his  houses. 

Right  here  comes  a  very  important  factor  in  the 
situation — the  moving  picture  craze.  In  one  way  or 
another,  it  has  not  only  caused  the  erection  of  thou- 


FREDERICK    F.    PROCTOR,    JR.  JAMES    H.    MOORE 


PHILLIP  F.   NASH  DANIEL  F.   HENNESSY 

Prominent  Figures  of   Vaudeville 


Ctoentietf)    Centutp  49 

sands  of  new  theatres,  but  has  also  created  millions  of 
new  theatre-goers,  some  of  whom  had  never  been  in- 
side a  playhouse  before.  Attracted  by  the  camera  man, 
thousands  of  the  patrons  of  these  theatres  have  gradu- 
ally formed  the  "theatre-habit,"  and  many  who  have 
resented  the  encroachment  of  vaudeville,  have  turned 
to  the  dramatic  stock  companies.  This  is  so  true  that 
the  hundreds  of  theatres,  which  reverted  to  moving 
pictures  and  "pop"  vaudeville,  are  now  to  a  very  great 
extent  shifting  to  dramatic  stock.  This  is  a  movement 
well  worth  watching;  it  has  started  with  an  impetus 
of  no  small  dimensions.  The  writer  has  investigated 
this  subject  and  has  been  impressed  with  its  import- 
ance. In  a  radius  of  less  than  sixty  miles  from  New 
York,  five  cities  within  twenty  miles  of  each  other, 
and  not  one  with  a  population  exceeding  40,000,  have 
supported  as  many  distinct  organizations,  giving  but 
one  play  a  week,  and  each  week  the  results  at  the  box- 
office  have  increased.  The  players  grow  in  favor,  and 
a  subscription  policy  is  in  vogue,  which  has  appealed 
to  family  patronage  to  such  an  extent,  that  it  is  quite 
difficult  to  obtain  seats  any  other  way,  while  on  Satur- 
days and  at  all  matinees  a  capacity  business  is  done. 
The  scale  of  prices  in  these  theatres  for  the  evening 
performances  ranges  from  twenty-five  to  seventy-five 
cents,  while  the  matinees  are  twenty-five  cents  to  all 
parts  of  the  house. 

In  Yonkers,  White  Plains,  Stamford  and  Mount 
Vernon,  these  stock  companies  have  long  since  passed 
through  the  period  of  experimenting.  In  the  last  city 
named,  a  firm,  heretofore  unknown  to  me,  Messrs. 
Stainach  and  Hards  have  achieved  results  nothing 
short  of  remarkable.  In  this  small  city  (population 


50  C&e    Stage    ittt&e 

30,000),  up  to  two  years  ago  it  was  not  possible  to 
conduct  a  theatre  profitably  on  any  line  whatever,  but 
the  tremendous  success  of  the  Proctor-Bijou-Dream 
policy,  which  has  resulted  in  twenty  thousand  paid 
admissions  being  recorded  each  week,  brought  about 
the  theatre-going  habit,  so  that  when  Messrs.  Stainach 
and  Hards  leased  the  old  hall,  now  converted  into  a 
pretty  little  playhouse,  called  The  Crescent  Theatre, 
they  displayed  a  courage  which  has  brought  its  own 
reward.  The  firm  opened  with  a  royalty  play,  "Paid 
in  Full,"  and  followed  it  with  another,  "The  Lion  and 
the  Mouse."  Business  was  large  almost  from  the  out- 
set, and  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  the  season  has 
lasted  nearly  forty  weeks,  and  shows  no  indication  of 
any  reduction  of  patronage,  though  the  plays  are  not 
always  in  the  large  royalty  class.  The  success  has 
been  so  positive  that  ground  was  leased  for  a  new  and 
commodious  playhouse,  costing  $50,000,  which  was 
dedicated  in  January,  1912,  and  will  be  maintained  as 
a  stock  house  under  the  same  firm's  management,  who 
will  also  retain  the  older  theatre  on  which  they  have 
a  long  lease.  This  firm  will  continue  in  other  cities 
also,  and  its  plans  are  for  several  stock  companies  in 
cities  of  this  class. 

I  have  dwelt  on  this  matter  at  some  length,  because 
of  the  effect  such  achievements  may  have  on  what  are 
known  as  the  "one-night  stands"  in  this  country.  Re- 
cently in  an  address  before  the  Dramatic  League  at 
Evanston,  111.,  J.  D.  Williams  gave  voice  to  expressions 
which  aptly  illustrate  the  conditions  in  the  cities  of 
less  than  40,000  population.  Mr.  Williams  said : 

"To-day  there  is  scarcely  a  theatre  of  the  'one-night 
stand*  class  that  is  paying  a  profit,  and  the  majority 


Ctoentietfr    Centtirg 51 

of  them  are  threatened  with  bankruptcy  and  extinc- 
tion, unless  reinforcement  comes  from  some  quarter; 
many  of  our  local  theatres  will  have  to  be  turned  into 
garages,  warehouses  and  department  stores,  and  the 
drama  will  have  to  return  to  primitive  conditions  of 
production  in  town  halls  or  similar  places  of  assembly." 

That  this  is  not  the  expression  of  a  pessimist  is  best 
illustrated  by  reference  to  another  part  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liams' address :  "*  *  *  and  paramount,  the  advent 
of  the  moving  picture  into  the  amusement  field,  which 
has  emptied  the  balconies  and  galleries,  has  driven  the 
medium-priced  companies  off  the  road,  has  established 
vaudeville  houses  in  towns  that  could  not  otherwise 
support  them,  and  has  so  cut  into  the  amusement  fund 
of  the  'one-night  stand*  public,  that  there  is  not 
enough  left  to  support  the  dramatic  theatre  of  the 
town!" 

Mr.  Williams  knows  whereof  he  speaks,  and  it  is 
because  he  has  so  ably  expressed  himself,  that  the  ob- 
servations as  to  the  potency  of  stock  companies  in 
cities  of  this  type  may  bear  fruit,  for  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  we  are  coming  back  to  the  ways  of  other 
days  when  the  stock  company  alone  had  vogue,  and 
the  player  was  schooled  and  prepared  for  a  career 
through  the  practical,  though  hard  service  which  such 
organizations  offered. 

There  are  other  reasons  why  a  return  to  stock  com- 
panies seems  imminent.  The  combination  system  in 
this  country  is  no  longer  to  be  availed  of  by  the  small 
producer;  the  entire  amusement  output  to-day  is  con- 
trolled, or  at  least  dictated  by  the  two  large  booking 
institutions,  the  one  by  Klaw  and  Erlanger  and  the 
other  by  the  Messrs.  Shubert  and  their  allies.  There 


52 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfre 

is  no  incentive  in  these  days  for  a  manager  or  pro- 
ducer with  small  capital;  he  is  not  even  certain  of 
obtaining  a  route  for  his  attractions;  this  has  caused 
the  withdrawal  from  the  musical  and  dramatic  field  of 
scores  of  competent  and  deserving  men,  who  have  been 
driven  to  make  small  productions  in  vaudeville,  where 
there  is  always  a  welcome  for  the  producer.  It  is  a 
fact  that  on  the  "rialto"  to-day  may  be  seen  men  whose 
hair  have  grown  gray  in  honored  service  in  their  pro- 
fession, but  who  have  been  swept  aside  by  the  broom 
of  "progress."  These  men  have  had  long  and  honor- 
able careers;  some  have  never  failed  in  an  obligation; 
a  few  are  to  be  found  doing  clerical  work  on  the  staffs 
of  some  of  the  older  producers  who  have  survived  the 
prejudice  against  age  and  experience. 

John  E.  Warner,  one  of  the  best  qualified  theatri- 
cal business  men,  has  been  in  charge  of  the  business 
procedure  of  the  "Association  of  Producing  Managers," 
but  such  a  man  is  utterly  wasted  in  this  capacity, 
and  were  he  in  his  proper  place,  some  one  of  our 
modern  producing  managers  would  not  be  forced  to 
curtail  their  operations.  William  A.  Brady  has  had 
much  to  say  during  the  past  year  as  to  the  general 
incompetency  of  the  men  holding  positions  in  the  busi- 
ness department  of  the  theatre,  and  it  is  true  that 
there  is  to-day  no  school  for  the  development  of  what 
was  once  known  as  "the  show  brain." 

The  "showman"  of  to-day — take  him  as  an  entity — 
is  of  the  poorest  calibre,  speaking  from  any  viewpoint ; 
there  is  absolutely  no  school  for  the  development  of 
the  theatrical  business  man.  The  present  era  is  so 
propitious  that  a  millionaire  is  no  longer  a  rarity  in 
theatredom,  but  outside  of  a  few  men,  grown  old  in 


W.   T.    WYATT 


WILLIAM     IX    ANDKKAS 


LOUIS    F.   WERBA  LOUIS     E.     COOKE 


Tl'NIS    F.    DEAN 


M.    HORKHEIMER 


CHARLES     EDWARD    AL- 
LEYNE   MAcGEACHY 

Theatrical  Business  Men. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 53 

service  as  producers  and  managers,  there  is  nothing 
to  indicate  a  perpetuation  of  the  high-grade  methods 
of  the  salaried  man  of  other  days.  Surely  it  is  a  vivid 
commentary  of  the  non-existence  of  expert  service 
for  the  large  investor  in  the  amusement  world,  when 
we  see  men  like  Edward  D.  Price,  Charles  MacGeachy, 
Robert  Stevens,  Dudley  MacAdow  and  William  W. 
Randall,  still  the  most  potent  in  their  line,  and  these 
men  are  paid  higher  salaries  to-day  than  at  any  period 
of  their  activity — all  have  labored  in  excess  of  thirty 
years,  and  not  one  is  in  danger  of  competition  from 
the  "modern  showman." 

The  term  "advance  agent"  no  longer  has  any  sig- 
nificant meaning,  and  how  much  this  state  of  affairs 
has  to  do  with  the  present  stagnated  condition  may} 
not  be  computed;  nevertheless,  Mr.  Brady's  frank  ex- 
pressions as  to  his  inability  to  secure  proper  assistance 
in  the  conduct  of  his  vast  enterprises  must  stand  un- 
contradicted.  Of  course  in  these  days,  where  one  firm 
operates  a  score  of  attractions,  the  New  York  office 
is  equipped  in  a  manner  permitting  much  that  was 
formerly  accomplished  by  the  advance  man  on  his 
travels  to  be  dispensed  with,  but  if  the  epidemic  of 
stock  companies  results  in  a  comparative  obliteration 
of  the  combination  system,  the  occupation  of  the  theat- 
rical business  man  will  pass  with  it.  Already  we  see 
scores  of  brilliant  men,  who  have  had  the  foresight  to 
lease  offices  in  New  York  City  and  become  booking 
agents.  Ten  years  ago  there  were  probably  twenty- 
five  agents  of  all  kinds  in  the  booking  business ;  to-day 
there  are  over  three  hundred  in  New  York  alone,  and 
these  earn  anywhere  from  $2,000  to  $50,000  a  year. 
The  vaudeville  agent  is  a  species  of  comparatively  re- 


54  Cfte    Stage    in    tfie 

cent  growth,  but  a  vigorous  figure  is  he,  and  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  managers,  producers  and 
agents,  unable  to  longer  prosper  in  the  distinctly  theat- 
rical calling,  have  entered  this  gold-bearing  field. 

The  vaudeville  agents  of  the  present  period  are  per- 
haps the  most  prosperous  theatrical  business  men  in 
the  entire  amusement  calling.  Few  of  our  producers 
and  managers  would  be  unwilling  to  change  places 
with  the  leaders  in  this  line  of  endeavor  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  many  of  the  latter  have  forsaken  the  risky 
managerial  position  to  partake  of  the  harvest  that 
comes  from  the  receipt  of  from  five  to  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  artist's  total  earnings. 

The  majority  of  the  contracts  made  in  the  vaude- 
ville field  call  for  a  deduction  of  ten  per  cent,  as  a 
booking  fee.  The  great  majority  of  the  contracts  of 
the  better  grade,  are  made  through  the  United  Book- 
ing Offices,  an  association  composed  of  the  managers 
themselves.  This  association  and  its  allies,  book  for 
about  one  hundred  vaudeville  theatres  where  a  weekly 
salary  list,  ranging  from  eight  hundred  to  four  thou- 
sand dollars  prevail.  This  association  is  in  receipt  of 
five  of  the  ten  per  cent,  that  is  deducted.  The  other 
five  per  cent,  is  supposed  to  go  to  the  vaudeville  agent 
who  actually  represents  the  artist  or  the  attraction 
booked,  but  provided  he  is  in  good  standing  with  the 
said  association  he  is  permitted  to  do  business  with 
them,  and  for  this  privilege  he  must  divide  his  five 
per  cent,  with  them;  and  in  order  that  he  may  surely 
do  this,  the  total  of  ten  per  cent,  is  deducted  and  the 
treasurer  of  the  United  Booking  Offices  will  issue  a 
check  for  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  to  the  real  agent. 

One  would  suppose  under  these  conditions  that  the 


C  to  e  n  t  i  e  t  fc    C  e  n  t  u  r  p  55 

chances  for  profit  outside  of  the  big  office  were  slim, 
nevertheless,  there  are  a  dozen  men  operating  inti- 
mately with  these  offices  whose  annual  earnings  arc 
in  excess  of  $10,000  a  year  and  the  number  who  earn 
more  than  $5,000  a  year  is  much  larger. 

From  a  distinctly  financial  viewpoint  the  leader 
among  the  booking  agents  is  Pat  Casey,  one  of  the 
best  known  men  in  the  show  world.  Five  years  ago  he 
was  hardly  known  at  all.  Mr.  Casey  comes  from 
Springfield,  Mass.,  being  a  disciple  of  that  brainy  pio- 
neer, Patrick  F.  Shea,  who,  by  the  way,  has  turned  out 
more  prosperous  vaudeville  managers  and  agents  than 
any  one  I  can  recall.  When  Casey  reached  Broadway, 
his  personality  had  a  certain  appeal  at  once  and  he 
held  various  positions  for  about  two  years,  each  one  a 
shade  better  than  that  immediately  preceding.  Then 
he  became  acquainted  with  William  Morris.  The  two 
went  out  to  Winnipeg  on  some  business  both  were  in- 
terested in  and  when  they  returned  to  the  rialto  Casey 
was  in  full  charge  of  the  Morris  offices  at  a  big  salary. 
When  the  Klaw  and  Erlanger  advanced  vaudeville 
made  its  advent,  Morris  placed  Casey  in  charge  of 
the  campaign.  This  brought  the  genial  Pat  in  contact 
with  A.  Lr.  Erlanger  and  the  two  became  intimate.  In 
fact,  they  have  been  inseparable  ever  since,  and  to  a 
great  extent  this  accounts  for  the  Casey  success, 
though  no  one  can  doubt  that  he  would  have  made 
fame  and  fortune  under  average  conditions  almost  any- 
where. Mr.  Casey's  profits  as  a  booking  agent  are 
placed  at  $50,000  a  year  and  his  expenses  are  said  to 
be  almost  as  much. 

The  most  prominent  of  the  commission  men  is  gen- 
erally conceded  to  be  M.  S.  Bentham.  He  is  not 


56 Cfre    g>tage    in    tfte 

strictly  an  agent  at  that ;  in  fact,  Mr.  Bentham  is  more 
of  a  producer  than  an  agent,  and  his  achievements 
have  been  of  a  character  to  greatly  aid  in  the  uplift 
of  vaudeville  itself.  It  was  Mr.  Bentham  who  first 
presented  a  Broadway  success  in  musical  comedy  in 
vaudeville ;  also  he  established  an  important  precedent 
by  inducing  the  original  Floradora  Sextette  to  enter 
the  two-a-day  field,  and  to  this  day  he  has  an  under- 
standing with  the  Messrs.  Shubert  and  other  Broad- 
way managers  by  which  he  is  the  sole  representative 
of  their  vaudeville  operations,  and  has  a  call  on  their 
artists  for  such  time  as  they  have  available  for  the 
theatres  that  he  places  attractions  in.  Mr.  Bentham's 
earnings  are  very  large.  He  is  a  wealthy  man — far 
more  so  than  nine  out  of  ten  of  our  managers.  He 
lives  in  his  own  home,  has  a  palatial  yacht,  and  was 
the  first  vaudeville  agent  to  own  an  automobile. 

Edward  S.  Keller,  although  he  has  been  an  agent 
several  years,  is  yet  in  his  twenties.  He  began  as  an 
office  boy  with  George  Liman,  and  has  had  a  pros- 
perous career,  but  as  he  has  a  failing — that  of  speculat- 
ing with  theatres  and  companies — his  personal  fortune 
is  not  as  large  as  it  would  be  if  he  confined  himself  to 
his  lucrative  agency. 

Jo  Paige  Smith  is  the  dean  of  agents,  and  if  he  was 
where  he  should  be  he  would  be  one  of  the  magnates 
of  vaudeville,  with  all  the  term  implies.  No  man  in 
this  field  has  had  more  to  do  with  vaudeville's  progress 
and  to  attempt  to  chronicle  here  all  that  Mr.  Smith 
has  accomplished  for  others  would  require  more  space 
than  is  available.  However,  his  earnings  are  in  the 
five-figure  class,  that  is  certain. 

During  the  year  1911  one  of  the  most  successful  and 


Ctoentietjj    Centutg 57 

honored  of  the  agents  passed  away.  Albert  Sutherland 
was  at  the  head  of  his  calling  always,  and  beloved  by 
his  colleagues  to  such  an  extent  that  his  demise  was 
deeply  deplored.  An  evidence  of  the  respect  in  which 
the  deceased  agent  was  held  is  illustrated  by  the  trib- 
ute paid  by  the  agents  who  had  been  his  competitors, 
in  that  not  one  of  these  gentlemen  attempted  to  secure 
the  representation  of  any  of  the  deceased  agent's 
clients,  and  it  is  also  to  the  credit  of  the  gentlemen  who 
control  the  United  Booking  Agency  that  they  assumed 
a  guardianship  over  the  Sutherland  estate  and  have 
placed  the  agency  itself  in  competent  hands,  to  be 
conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  son  of  the  deceased. 
This  is  truly  commendable,  particularly  since  it  is 
stated  that  the  income  from  the  agency  is  more  than 
ample  to  assure  the  heir  from  want  for  many  years  to 
come. 

Alf.  T.  Wilton  is  one  of  the  managers  of  lengthy 
service  who  saw  the  opportunity  vaudeville  offered, 
and,  being  a  man  of  extensive  acquaintance  and  vast 
experience,  it  was  natural  that  he  would  prosper  as 
a  booking  agent.  Mr.  Wilton  managed  theatres  in 
New  England  for  twenty  years,  and  he  is  another  of 
the  disciples  of  that  mascot  of  Springfield,  P.  F.  Shea. 
Like  Mr.  Bentham,  too,  he  owns  his  home,  has  a  large 
bank  account  and  has  a  splendid  annual  income,  being 
the  exclusive  agent  for  some  of  the  highest  salaried 
stars  in  vaudeville. 

A  new  firm  came  into  prominence  during  the  past 
year,  and  this  concern  has  built  up  an  enormous 
business  in  a  few  months.  The  firm  is  composed  of 
Messrs.  Reed  Albee,  Frank  Evans  and  Harry  Webber ; 
the  former  gentleman  is  a  son  of  the  general  manager 


58 Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

of  the  United  Booking  Offices.  He  had  previously 
been  associated  with  Jo  Paige  Smith,  the  best  vaude- 
ville agent  of  them  all — as  the  writer  understands  the 
term — but  for  some  reason  or  other  Mr.  Smith  is  now 
in  business  for  himself.  However,  to  return  to  the  new 
firm,  the  amount  of  business  they  do  in  each  week  is 
so  large  that  even  though  there  are  three  members  to 
divide  the  profits,  the  total  for  each  may  be  set  down 
in  five  figures. 

All  of  the  successful  vaudeville  agents  do  not  operate 
in  New  York.  Philadelphia  has  at  least  one  important 
figure  in  this  industry  in  Norman  Jeffries,  who  has  for 
more  than  a  decade  represented  a  large  list  of  clients, 
among  whom  are  some  of  the  standard  attractions  of 
modern  vaudeville.  Mr.  Jeffries'  achievement  is  note- 
worthy in  that  it  has  always  been  regarded  as  a  difficult 
proposition  to  create  a  market  for  vaudeville  acts  out- 
side of  New  York  and  Chicago,  but,  by  persistent 
application  to  a  well-defined  purpose,  and  with  the 
added  asset  of  a  likeable  personality,  Mr.  Jeffries  has 
established  himself  in  the  Quaker  city  for  all  time. 

Chicago  as  a  vaudeville  centre  has  made  great  prog- 
ress in  the  last  two  years,  to  the  extent  that  a  half 
dozen  booking  agents  have  become  influential  factors. 
J.  C.  Matthews  is  perhaps  the  leading  figure  in  this 
section;  he  was  formerly  an  advance  agent  and  busi- 
ness manager  of  road  attractions.  Five  years  ago  he 
saw  the  opportunity  in  the  vaudeville  field  and  he 
began,  in  a  modest  way,  to  book  special  acts  as  he 
could  locate  them.  His  energy  and  ability  was  such 
that  the  attention  of  William  Morris  was  directed 
toward  him,  and  this  resulted  in  Mr.  Matthews  going 
to  Chicago  to  assume  full  charge  of  the  large  interests 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  59 

of  the  Morris  circuit  in  the  West.  The  results  from 
this  connection  were  wholly  constructive,  and  the  asso- 
ciation lasted  until  Mr.  Morris  combined  with  Marcus 
Loew,  when  Matthews  quickly  adapted  himself  to  the 
new  conditions.  He  is  now  conducting  his  own 
agency. 

J.  Frank  Doyle  has  been  prominent  in  Chicago  as 
a  booking  agent  for  nearly  twenty  years;  he  is  the 
founder  of  a  vast  industry  whereby  the  western  me- 
tropolis has  become  a  vaudeville  centre  second  to  none 
and  is  in  control  of  more  theatres  for  booking 
purposes  than  any  one  agent  outside  of  New  York. 

J.  Wesley  Frazer  is  the  most  prominent  booking 
agent  in  Boston.  He  came  forward  about  the  time  that 
"Pop"  vaudeville  began  its  vogue  and  he  has  been  a 
factor  ever  since. 

A.  Milo  Bennett  is  a  force  in  booking  circles  in 
Chicago.  He  had  been  .a  manager  and  advance  agent 
before  entering  on  his  present  occupation.  Mr.  Ben- 
nett is  also  an  author  and  his  name  is  often  prominent 
in  important  efforts  to  effect  reforms  in  his  calling. 

<$•«$»«$• 

The  producers  and  managers  who  cater  to  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  American  public  in  this  second  decade 
of  the  Twentieth  Century  are  finding  their  position 
more  untenable  than  at  any  time  since  the  days  when 
the  amusement  calling  was  regarded  as  the  most  pre- 
carious line  of  endeavor  with  which  men  of  capital 
could  tempt  fate,  and  when  few  of  these  gentlemen 
possessed  the  dignity  which  comes  from  the  posses- 
sion of  an  office  for  the  conduct  of  their  business 
affairs. 


60 Cfre   g>tage   in   tfte 

The  number  of  "stars"  whose  fame  and  potency 
enable  a  manager  to  attract  his  public  is  smaller  to-day 
than  at  any  time  in  the  last  thirty  years.  No  less  than 
thirty  players  of  stellar  renown,  who  had  started  out 
to  tour  the  country  in  the  early  fall  of  1911,  have 
been  forced  to  abandon  their  enterprises,  and  the  ma- 
jority of  these  are  for  the  first  time  without  engage- 
ments. Moreover,  at  a  "hard  luck"  banquet  at  the 
Lambs'  Club,  eighty-five  well  known  actors,  including 
a  large  number  of  stars,  sat  down  to  discuss  their 
condition.  Among  the  diners  were  such  public  favor- 
ites as  Douglass  Fairbanks,  Cyril  Scott,  Wilton  Lack- 
aye,  Edmund  Breese,  John  Barrymore,  Thomas  Wise 
and  Wright  Lorimer,  the  last  named  having  since 
ended  his  life  with  his  own  hand,  because,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  "there  was  not  one  single  ray  of  hope"  for 
the  future. 

When  it  is  stated  that  in  a  single  week  in  December, 
1911,  seventy  traveling  combinations  were  forced  to 
close  their  season's  labors,  some  idea  may  be  formed 
as  to  the  conditions  that  came  up  for  discussion  at  the 
Lambs'  Club  gathering. 

In  New  York  City  the  situation  is  seen  at  its  best, 
for  the  reason  that  all  of  the  compelling  productions 
of  the  entire  nation  are  congregated  there,  but  even 
in  New  York  one-third  of  the  theatres  have  had  their 
problems  finally  solved  by  reverting  to  moving  pic- 
tures, and  no  week  goes  by  but  some  theatre  manage- 
ment, weary  of  meeting  deficits,  avoids  bankruptcy  by 
installing  a  moving  picture  machine. 

That  science  and  artifice  have  combined  to  encroach 
on  the  realm  of  players  and  singers  is  not  to  be 
questioned. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 6i 

Even  the  orchestral  bodies  in  our  theatres  are  grad- 
ually passing,  while  in  their  places  is  being  installed 
the  "one-man  orchestra,"  an  invention  of  Robert  Hope- 
Jones,  which,  in  many  localities,  has  proven  a  serious 
rival  even  of  the  cinematograph. 

One  must  believe  that  the  actor,  to  a  great  extent, 
makes  possible  the  prosperity  in  the  film  industry,  for 
he  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  the  original  output  of 
the  photo-play,  and  yet  it  would  be  a  decidedly  heart- 
rending situation  on  the  rialto  if  it  were  not  for  the 
employment  of  the  professionals. 

Over  four  hundred  players  are  now  permanently 
engaged  by  the  film  manufacturers,  and  these  do  not 
represent,  by  any  means,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  stage. 
The  roster  of  the  American  Vitagraph  Company  con- 
tains no  less  than  fourteen  actors  and  actresses  who 
were  last  season  members  of  Charles  Frohman's  com- 
panies. In  one  reel  recently  the  writer  recognized  on 
the  screen  four  players  whose  weekly  salaries  have 
never  been  quoted  in  less  than  three  figures  in  recent 
years. 

Several  of  the  stars  even  have  succumbed  to  the 
inducements  offered  in  the  cinematographic  industry. 
Mabel  Taliaferro  received  more  money  for  posing  for 
the  "Cinderella"  pictures  for  the  Selig  Company  than 
she  has  earned  as  a  star  for  a  season's  efforts.  Among 
other  celebrities  in  this  country  to  bow  to  the  en- 
croachment of  the  camera  man  on  their  realm  may  be 
named  McKee  Rankin,  Sydney  Booth,  May  Buckley, 
Mildred  Holland,  Nat  C.  Goodwin,  Charles  Kent,  Mar- 
shall P.  Wilder  and  others,  but  the  star  phase  of  the 
motion  picture  progress  is  decidedly  in  its  infancy,  and 
it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  same  craze  that  resulted 


62 Cftc    g)tage    in    tfte 

in  advanced  vaudeville  is  now  in  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion in  the  newer  field. 

David  Belasco  was  offered  $100,000  for  the  privil- 
eges of  presenting  "The  Music  Master'*  as  a  photo-play 
and  Liebler  and  Company  refused  more  than  that  sum 
to  allow  "The  Garden  of  Allah"  to  be  filmed. 

In  Europe  the  greatest  players  have  already  posed 
before  the  camera,  with  more  or  less  grace  and  dignity. 
Rejane,  Jane  Hading,  Mounet-Sully  and  the  younger 
Coquelins  are  photo-players  of  distinction,  and  their 
experiences  were  such  that  the  great  Sarah  Bernhardt 
has  consented  to  the  reproduction  of  the  drama  of 
"Camille"  on  the  screen,  with  the  divine  one  herself 
as  Marguerita  Gautier.  It  is  stated  that  $30,000  was 
the  inducement  held  out  to  Sarah,  though  the  great 
French  actress  herself  claims  that  her  incentive  was 
a  desire  to  have  such  art  as  yet  remains  with  her  pre- 
served in  order  that  future  generations  may  be  enabled 
to  see  her  at  her  best. 

However  this  may  be,  the  all-important  matter  is 
the  certainty  that  the  stars,  who  find  their  vogue  with 
the  public  along  older  lines  waning,  will  not  hesitate 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  golden  opportunities  result- 
ing from  the  advent  of  the  various  scientific  inventions, 
though  these,  too,  have  contributed  greatly  to  the 
adverse  conditions  surrounding  them. 

How  long  it  will  take  for  the  John  Drews  and  the 
Maud  Adamses  and  the  Ethel  Barrymores  to  emulate 
the  Bernhardts  and  Rejanes  is  a  question  that  may  be 
fully  answered  in  another  year.  Progress  in  the  field 
of  the  silent  drama  has  been  on  an  unparalleled  scale ; 
in  fact,  some  of  the  developments  of  the  last  few 
months  have  caused  the  most  important  metropolitan 


J.    STUART   BLACKTON 


HERBERT   MILES 


GEORGE  K.  SPOOR  G.    M.   ANDERSON 

Monarchs   of    the   Moving   Picture   Field 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  63 

managers  and  producers  to  look  on  in  utter  amaze- 
ment. As  recently  as  two  years  ago  these  gentlemen 
were  inclined  to  regard  the  moving  picture  as  a  tem- 
porary fad,  but  when  such  offerings  came  as  the  Kine- 
macolor  Coronation  festivities,  and  they  noted  that  the 
public  willingly  paid  regular  theatre  prices  to  see  the 
wondrous  spectacle  on  view,  they  looked  askance  at 
each  other  and  one  of  the  foremost  of  these — William 
A.  Brady — thus  expressed  himself: 

"If  the  manufacturer  of  a  photo-play  can  afford  to 
spend  $100,000  for  a  single  offering  on  the  screen,  he 
has  us  beat  many  a  mile,  for  that  is  just  twice  as  much 
as  it  cost  to  produce  'Ben  Hur,'  a  play  that  has  run 
twelve  years." 

One  hundred  thousand  dollars  has  been  spent  on 
several  productions  in  the  silent  drama.  "Dante's 
Inferno"  pictures  cost  more  than  this  total  to  evolve, 
while  "The  Fall  of  Troy/'  "The  Crusaders,"  "Cin- 
derella" and  "A  Tale  of  Two  Cities"  each  cost  in 
excess  of  $25,000. 

The  amazing  thing  about  the  cinematograph  indus- 
try is  the  extraordinary  fact  that  even  the  most  ex- 
pensive productions  are  seen  but  one  day  only  in  the 
ten  thousand  or  more  picture  theatres ;  the  only  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  is  where  the  pictures  are  exhibited  in 
vaudeville  theatres  as  numbers  on  the  programme. 
Here  they  are  seen  for  at  least  a  week,  and  often  for 
a  longer  period. 

One  may  form  some  idea  as  to  the  conditions  which 
caused  a  drastic  curtailment  of  the  list  of  potent  stars 
and  the  premature  closing  of  seventy  traveling  com- 
binations when  it  is  truthfully  stated  that  there  are 
more  than  fifty  towns  of  a  population  between  ten  and 


64 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfte 

forty  thousand,  within  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of 
New  York  City,  that  have  not  got  a  single  stage  to 
offer  to  a  company  of  real  actors. 

In  all  these  cities  the  local  managers,  having  become 
wearied  of  tempting  disaster  along  the  usual  lines, 
have  turned  their  "opry"  houses  into  theatres  of  cine- 
matography, and  the  result  in  nearly  every  instance 
has  been  to  transform  their  poorly  patronized  play- 
houses into  veritable  gold  mines.  Even  the  few 
theatres  in  cities  of  this  class  which  have  not  wholly 
reverted  to  the  silent  drama  are  conducted  on  a  policy 
of  photo-plays  whenever  there  are  no  visiting  combina- 
tions, and  this  method  has  served  to  lessen  the  losses 
at  least  for  the  local  management. 

The  strangest  development  of  the  vogue  of  the  mov- 
ing picture,  and  one  that  seemingly  gives  the  lie  to 
the  claim  that  this  line  of  endeavor  has  caused  the  dis- 
astrous theatrical  slump,  is  the  evidence,  of  which 
there  is  plenty  at  hand,  that  the  photo-play  has  created 
new  theatre-goers  by  tens  of  thousands,  and  that  the 
tremendous  public  which  patronizes  the  cheaper  the- 
atres is  greatly  composed  of  people  to  whom  theatre- 
going  is  a  novelty.  Once  attracted  by  the  cheap  prices, 
however,  these  new  amusement  seekers  become  pos- 
sessed of  the  desire  to  see  plays  presented  by  real 
actors.  That  this  is  true  is  amplified  by  the  recent  and 
constantly  increasing  vogue  of  stock  companies  all 
over  the  country.  Nearly  every  city  of  fifty  thousand 
or  more  has  at  least  one  of  these  stock  companies,  and 
investigation  shows  that  the  majority  prosper. 

The  writer  visited  five  cities  within  fifty  miles  of 
New  York  and  all  within  twenty  miles  of  each  other. 
In  each  of  these  a  company  of  youthful  and  enthu- 


Ctoentietft    Centtitg 65 

siastic  players  appear  in  a  new  play  each  week;  the 
scale  of  admission  prices  are  at  the  highest  customary 
in  such  cities,  and  the  theatres  are  crowded — so 
crowded,  in  fact,  that  in  three  of  the  five  cities  new 
theatres  are  being  erected  to  better  meet  the  demand. 
The  plays  presented  are  by  no  means  inferior ;  such 
successes  as  "Paid  in  Full,"  "The  White  Sister,"  "Alias 
Jimmy  Valentine,"  "The  Lion  and  the  Mouse"  and 
"The  Third  Degree"  are  a  fair  sample  of  the  offerings. 
The  roles  are  portrayed  quite  as  well  as  in  larger 
cities,  yet  not  one  of  these  young  players  has  a  familiar 
face,  while  their  names  are  unknown  to  the  general 
public;  yet  it  is  to  these  organizations  that  such  pro- 
ducers as  David  Belasco,  Henry  W.  Savage,  H.  B. 
Harris  and  the  Shuberts  look  for  their  principals  when 
casting  their  new  productions — moreover,  the  "hits"  in 
the  big  Broadway  productions  in  recent  years  have 
been  scored  by  actors  and  actresses  recruited  from 
these  stock  organizations.  Seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
the  successful  players  of  to-day  have  attained  their 
experience  in  this  manner,  and  it  is  a  truth  that  there 
is  no  other  school  to-day  for  the  development  of  the 
thespian. 

How  much  these  stock  companies  have  to  do  with 
creating  an  untenable  position  for  the  stars  of  yester- 
day has  not  yet  been  revealed,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  moving  picture  is  not  the  sole  cause  of  the 
changed  state. 

In  the  musical  field  conditions  have  been  unfavor- 
able, but  grand  opera,  strange  to  state,  is  meeting  with 
a  larger  public  response  than  in  previous  years  in  all 
of  the  four  opera  houses  in  as  many  cities  where  this 
expensive  form  of  entertainment  holds  sway. 


66 Cfre    S>tage    in    tfre 

With  all  the  returns  showing  the  difficulties  of  the 
managerial  faction,  the  only  source  of  relief  would 
seem  to  lie  in  the  enormous  salaries  paid  to  those  who 
entertain  the  public,  and  these,  instead  of  declining, 
have  been  materially  increased.  There  are  five  singers 
in  New  York's  operatic  institution  whose  nightly  hon- 
orarium is  listed  in  four  figures.  Caruso's  compensa- 
tion has  increased  each  year  and  is  now  in  excess  of 
two  thousand  dollars  a  night,  and  the  illustrious  tenor 
has  been  consoled  for  the  losses  sustained  through  hia 
inability  to  sing  the- last  half  of  the  past  two  seasons 
by  the  knowledge  that  his  royalties  from  the  Victor 
Phonograph  Company  will  amount  to  at  least  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  annually.  No  share  of  this 
remarkable  income  goes  to  the  opera  management,  the 
singers  claiming  that  the  phonograph  has  helped  to 
solve  the  problems  of  grand  opera,  and  that  the  bal- 
conies and  galleries  are  now  crowded  by  a  new  public, 
whose  incentive  for  opera-going  came  from  hearing  the 
vocal  records  in  their  own  homes  and  in  penny  arcades. 

The  writer  recalls  the  experience  of  a  phonograph 
company  in  treating  with  an  operatic  diva  that  will 
give  the  reader  a  fair  idea  of  the  gold-laden  era  that 
science  has  brought  unto  these  public  idols.  Five  years 
ago  Luisa  Tetrazzini  was  singing  in  San  Francisco 
at  the  Tivoli,  an  establishment  not  far  removed  from 
a  beer  garden.  Her  weekly  salary  at  that  period  was 
less  than  one-sixth  what  it  is  to-day  for  a  single  per- 
formance, though  the  diva's  voice  was  quite  as  good  as 
it  is  now.  The  phonograph  companies  had  heard  of 
the  new  star,  but  her  fame  had  not  yet  reached  a  status 
to  iustify  the  particular  company  in  question  in  accord- 
ing to  Tetrazzini  a  lump  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars 


Ctoentietft    Centiitg 67 

in  return  for  which  she  was  willing  to  give  her  entire 
repertoire.  That  same  phonograph  company  recently 
entered  into  a  contract  with  Tetrazzini,  who  was  now 
receiving  a  nightly  salary  of  $3,000.  By  the  terms  of 
the  agreement  the  diva  gives  exactly  the  same  effort 
as  she  had  offered  a  few  years  before  for  $1,000,  but 
this  time  she  was  granted  a  bonus  of  $35,000  outright, 
while  her  royalties  are  estimated  to  be  at  least  as  much 
more  annually. 

To  return  to  the  matter  of  actors'  salaries,  there  are 
few  leading  men  or  women  of  any  repute  who  receive 
less  than  $250  a  week,  and  many  who  demand  and  get 
twice  as  much,  while  the  stars  usually  receive  a  share 
of  the  receipts,  or  half  of  the  profits,  with  a  guarantee 
that  their  share  shall  not  fall  below  a  certain  sum, 
ranging  anywhere  from  $500  to  $2,500  a  week. 

In  a  recent  production  at  the  Winter  Garden  the 
salary  list  exceeded  $10,000  a  week,  half  of  which  went 
to  the  two  leading  women  stars. 

Until  this  year  the  reverses  befalling  stars  while  on 
tour  were  quickly  wiped  out  by  a  plunge  into  vaude- 
ville, but  the  gentlemen  who  have  amassed  fortunes 
catering  to  the  public  in  this  field,  have  had  their  own 
troubles,  and  instead  of  wishing  to  take  on  any  new 
responsibilities,  they  are  lying  awake  nights  in  the 
effort  to  reduce  their  obligations,  for  even  this  ex- 
tremely popular  form  of  entertainment  has  shared  in 
the  general  slump,  but  vaudeville  salaries  are  as  high 
as  ever. 

Eva  Tanguay  still  gets  $2,500  a  week  for  precisely 
the  same  specialty  she  was  wont  to  do  in  the  very  same 
way  for  one-tenth  that  sum  a  few  years  ago.  Harry 
Lauder,  however,  although  his  manager,  William 


68 


Morris,  paid  him  $4,500  a  week,  was  paid  the  unusual 
compliment  by  the  latter  of  hailing  the  clever  Scot  as 
the  cheapest  actor  he  had  ever  employed,  but  there  is 
only  one  Harry  Lauder. 

Another  year  should  witness  the  advent  of  so  many 
well  known  players  into  the  newer  field  that  the  dis- 
tinction heretofore  existing  between  the  real  and  the 
mechanical  in  the  field  of  the  theatre  will  hardly 
endure. 

Already  one  may  gaze  on  the  spectacle  of  crowds 
paying  one  dollar  for  reserved  seats  to  see  such  special 
releases  as  the  Kinemacolor  and  "Dante  Inferno,"  and 
surely  that  public,  accustomed  to  stand  in  line  for 
hours  to  secure  seats  to  see  Sarah  Bernhardt  at  three 
dollars  each,  will  not  be  unwilling  to  pay  one-third 
as  much  to  see  her  artistry  faithfully  portrayed  on  the 
screen.  The  Bernhardt  film  has  been  manufactured 
by  the  Film  d'Art  Company  of  Paris,  and  all  their  pre- 
vious output  has  been  of  a  superior  calibre. 

Undoubtedly  there  is  a  tremendous  population  in  this 
country  to  whom  three  dollars  is  a  prohibitive  price 
even  to  see  a  Bernhardt.  An  English  writer  recently 
asked  Madame  Bernhardt  if  she  thought  her  capitula- 
tion to  the  camera  man  could  be  regarded  as  a  retro- 
grade movement  in  her  long  and  unexampled  career. 
"I  am  playing  for  posterity,"  responded  Sarah.  Art 
is  always  art,  no  matter  where  or  what  the  environ- 
ment. What  would  we  all  give  if  the  art  of  our  own 
Rachel  could  have  been  preserved  in  this  manner? 
And  who  does  not  regret  that  science  and  artifice  could 
not  have  been  resorted  to  in  the  days  of  Kean  and  Gar- 
rick,  that  we  might  now  be  enthralled  by  them? 

Perhaps  the  most  important  effort  in  the  field  of 


ALICE    BLACHE 
President    Solax    Co. 


RO11ERT   BROWER 
Edison    Co. 


S.    LUBIN 
Pioneer   in   Film    Industry 


MAXWELL  H.   KITE 

Educational    Film    Promoter 


Famous   in    the    Silent    Drama 


Ctoentietj)    Centutp  69 

cinematography,  however,  comes  from  Italy,  where  the 
great  Tomaso  Salvini,  whom  Charlotte  Cushman  pro- 
nounced "the  greatest  actor  the  world  ever  saw,"  now 
nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  has  been  asked  to  present 
his  sublime  portrayal  of  "Othello"  before  the  camera. 
Here  indeed  is  something  worth  while,  and  if  it  is 
really  true  that  the  ponderous  Italian's  talents  are  still 
unimpaired,  then  the  advent  of  this  series  of  film  will 
be  worth  waiting  for. 

Recently  the  Vitagraph  Company  effected  an 
affiliation  with  the  New  York  Philharmonic  Society, 
America's  foremost  musical  organization.  J.  Stewart 
Blackton,  president  of  the  Vitagraph  Company,  was 
elected  chairman  of  the  motion  picture  department  of 
this  great  musical  society.  Already  the  company  is 
preparing  a  series  of  educational  pictures  with  a  view 
to  providing  incentive  for  public  interest  in  the  great 
masters  of  music  and  their  epoch-making  works. 

It  has  come  to  be  a  battle  of  money  and  brains,  with 
the  theatrical  managers  on  one  side  and  the  film 
manufacturers  on  the  other ;  the  former  are  in  the  posi- 
tion of  untenability  in  that  they  are  seeking  a  solution 
of  their  problems,  whereas  the  newer  interests  have 
solved  all  of  their  problems  and  are  now  engaged  in 
uplifting  their  environment  and  raising  the  level  of 
their  offerings  on  the  screen. 

The  number  of  theatrical  producers  is  now  the 
smallest  in  twenty-five  years,  while  the  moving  picture 
magnates  are  increasing  in  number  yearly;  a  dozen 
different  manufacturers  have  more  than  a  million  dol- 
lars capital.  The  Cines  Company  of  Rome  has  six 
million  invested;  the  Kinemacolor  Company  has  six 


TO Cfte   Stage   in    tfte 

million,  and  the  same  total  is  available  to  the  Pathe 
Freres  of  Paris  and  New  York. 

In  Chicago  two  men  started  a  few  years  ago  to 
make  film.  Between  them  they  had  ten  thousand 
dollars.  These  were  Messrs.  Spoor  and  Anderson. 
To-day  both  are  rich  men  and  their  annual  income 
is  of  prodigious  proportions.  In  the  same  city  George 
Kleine,  erstwhile  optician,  started  in  a  few  years  ago 
on  the  motion  picture  movement.  He  is  a  very  rich 
man  to-day,  and  he  controls  a  majority  of  the  output 
of  European  manufacturers.  Mr.  Kleine  is  conspicuous 
in  every  effort  to  raise  the  artistic  level  of  cinema- 
tography, and  educational  film  is  his  hobby. 

About  eight  years  ago  a  man  named  John  Rock  was 
wont  to  go  about  the  country — in  the  smaller  towns — 
with  a  camera  and  a  few  reels  of  film.  He  had  for 
a  partner  an  "opry"  house  manager  from  a  small  New 
England  town.  Rock  saw  profits  ahead  and  wanted 
to  expand  his  operations;  his  partner  had  no  faith  in 
motion  pictures,  so  they  parted.  The  country  manager 
is  still  at  his  "opry"  house  and  Rock  is  a  millionaire. 

There  are  so  many  cases  of  this  description  on  the 
operating  side  of  the  industry  that  it  would  require 
a  special  article  to  properly  cover  this  phase  of  the 
progress. 

It  is  quite  the  same  on  the  exhibiting  side  of  the 
industry,  but  the  meteoric  rise  of  two  men  is  well 
worthy  of  record.  Five  years  ago  a  middle-aged  man 
was  operating  a  penny  arcade  in  Harlem.  He  began 
to  notice  that  the  craze  for  moving  pictures  was  greatly 
reducing  his  receipts,  so  he  shifted  to  the  newer  field. 
That  man  was  the  Marcus  Loew  of  to-day.  In  just 
five  years  he  has  become  a  multi-millionaire.  He 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 71 

owns,  leases  or  controls  forty  theatres,  one-third  of 
which  are  in  the  Greater  City.  In  the  last  year  he  has 
erected  two  palatial  theatres,  involving  an  outlay  of 
nearly  two  million  dollars. 

In  none  of  Mr.  Loew's  theatres  are  there  any  seats 
costing  more  than  twenty-five  cents,  while  the  average 
price  is  ten  cents.  On  Greeley  Square  Mr.  Loew  has 
just  opened  to  the  public  an  establishment  comparing 
favorably  with  any  of  our  Broadway  theatres.  Here, 
from  9  A.  M.  to  midnight,  a  minor  grade  of  vaudeville, 
combined  with  a  high  grade  display  of  motion  pictures, 
is  presented  to  an  average  daily  attendance  of  seven 
thousand. 

A  few  years  ago  there  were  five  legitimate  theatres 
on  Fourteenth  Street,  from  Third  to  Sixth  Avenues. 
To-day  there  are  none — all  have  become  moving  pic- 
ture houses,  except  the  historic  Academy  of  Music,  and 
even  this  former  home  of  grand  opera  has  been  leased 
at  an  annual  rental  of  $100,000,  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  prevent  any  moving  picture  magnate  from  se- 
curing it  in  order  to  compete  with  its  present  lessee, 
William  Fox,  who  operates  directly  opposite  the  Acad- 
emy two  theatres  of  cinematography,  the  City  and 
Dewey  Theatres,  with  prodigious  results  financially. 
This  man  Fox  five  years  ago  opened  a  small  theatre 
in  a  store  in  Brooklyn;  to-day  he  has  ten  theatres  in 
Greater  New  York  alone  and  his  annual  profit  is  esti- 
mated at  $300,000. 

On  the  corner  of  Fourteenth  Street  and  Sixth 
Avenue  stands  the  historic  playhouse  where  French 
opera  bouffe  was  first  exploited  in  the  '60s.  Here  for 
forty  years  or  more  every  theatrical  manager  of  promi- 
nence has  tempted  fate,  only  to  become  bankrupt. 


72 Cfte    ^tage    in    tbe 

Three  years  ago  the  lessee,  a  Mr.  Rosenquest,  decided 
to  emulate  the  policy  of  the  Union  Square  Theatre, 
another  historic  playhouse  where  the  camera  man  has 
folved  its  problem. 

In  those  three  years  Mr.  Rosenquest  has  made  a 
fortune. 

Truly  it  is  an  amazing  illustration  of  a  public'* 
knowing  what  it  wants. 

Can  anyone  wonder  that  the  theatrical  manager! 
regard  the  situation  seriously  or  that  new  methods 
must  avail  to  compete  with  the  men  who  prosper  in 
the  gold-bearing  realm  of  the  silent  drama?  The  con- 
solation of  these  gentlemen  up  to  recently  was  the 
hope  that,  like  other  crazes  and  fads,  the  vogue  of 
photo-plays  would  be  short,  but  this  is  the  seventeenth 
year  of  constantly  increasing  interest,  and  the  develop- 
ment in  the  last  three  years  has  been  greater  than  in 
the  fourteen  preceding;  moreover,  the  future  holds 
forth  nothing  to  indicate  the  least  retrograde  move- 
ment— on  the  contrary,  the  next  two  years  should 
record  the  zenith  of  achievement  in  the  most  lucrative 
line  of  endeavor  in  the  history  of  public  entertaining. 

Looming  up  in  perspective,  a  still  greater  menace 
to  the  stage  and  its  people  is  casting  its  outlines  on 
the  horizon  in  the  so-called  talking  picture,  a  synchro- 
nization of  the  cinematograph  and  the  phonograph, 
with  electrical  science  playing  an  important  part. 
Already  in  London  and  Paris,  the  talking  pictures  are 
a  craze;  so  potent  have  these  reproductions  of  plays 
and  operas  become  that  two  of  our  most  prominent 
producers,  Charles  Frohman  and  Henry  W.  Savage, 
were  in  competition  for  the  American  rights. 

Thomas  Alva  Edison,  however,  has  not  been  idlt 


Ctoentieti)    Centurg 73 

in  this  new  phase  of  the  mechanical  theatre.  The 
wizard  of  Menlo  Park  has  announced  simultaneously 
with  this  writing  that  the  "Edison  speaking  pictures" 
are  complete.  Very  recently,  too,  Mr.  Edison  uttered 
the  prophecy  that  within  a  very  short  time  the  work- 
ingman  will  lay  down  his  dime  at  the  modern  theatre 
of  cinematography  and  witness  and  hear  grand  opera 
plays  and  spectacles  with  sound,  dialogue,  color  and 
action  scientifically  reproduced,  a  veritable  conquest 
of  music  and  the  drama. 

The  serious  phase  of  all  this  progress  lies  in  the 
problem  as  to  how  a  public  that  is  accustomed  to  pay 
five  dollars  for  its  seats  to  hear  grand  opera,  is  to  be 
reconciled  to  the  amazing  revelation  of  all  of  the  com- 
pelling features  of  their  favorite  amusement  being 
duplicated  as  above  stated.  Nevertheless  the  prophecy 
of  Mr.  Edison  is  by  no  means  an  unreasonable  one. 


74  €&e    Stage    in    tfce 


CHAPTER  IV 

It  being  the  fashion  at  this  time  to  proclaim  "the 
twenty  greatest,"  or  "world  movers,"  and  as  the  many 
selections  by  divers  persons  of  more  or  less  distinc- 
tion have  varied  in  their  composition  so  as  to  include 
even  a  few  exponents  of  music  and  the  drama,  it  has 
occurred  to  this  writer  that  "the  twenty  greatest"  in 
the  field  of  the  theatre  (a  term  comprehending  every 
phase  of  artistic  endeavor)  might  prove  of  sufficient 
interest  to  be  worthy  of  record,  and  the  effort  should 
at  least  reveal  the  important  part  played  in  the  world 
by  a  group  of  men  and  women  whose  careers  alone 
have  provided  a  great  incentive  for  the  generations 
that  lived  after  them. 

1.  Ludwig    von    Beethoven,    whose    influence    hai 
steadily  increased  and  is  greater  to-day  than  that  of 
any  musical  figure  in  the  world's  history. 

2.  Jacques  Offenbach,  the  father  of  opera  bouffe  and 
comic  opera,  who  created  an  era  of  gaiety,  despite 
that  his  musical  thought  was  best  expressed  in  such 
works  as  "The  Tales  of  Hoffmann,"  which  a  genera- 
tion after  his  demise  has  reached  a  greater  potency 
than  all  of  his  lighter  works  combined. 

3.  Sir  William  Gilbert,  and 

4.  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan,  who  took  for  a  theme  the 
"Bab    Ballads"  and    evolved  a  group    of    clean    and 
plaintive   operettas   that   made   possible   more   stage 
careers  than  have  been  influenced  by  any  group  of 
playwrights  since  Shakespeare's  time. 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 75 

5.  William   Shakespeare,  for  reasons  fully  under- 
stood. 

6.  Richard  Wagner,  whose  "Tristan    and    Isolde" 
alone  entitles  him  to  inclusion  in  every  list  of  "world 
movers." 

7.  Giuseppe  Verdi,  whose  "Trovatore"  and  "Aida" 
have  endowed  the  world  of  music  for  all  time. 

8.  Thomas  Alva  Edison,  who  gave  us  the  phono- 
graph and  the  moving  picture,  enabling  future  genera- 
tions to  be  enthralled  by  the  artistry  of  the  world's 
greatest  singers,  players  and  musicians. 

9.  Samuel  S.  Shubert,  who,  though  he  passed  away 
in  his  twenties,  was  the  first  to  assert  independence  in 
the  amusement  calling,  laying  the  foundation  for  a 
vast  institution  which  has  greatly  benefited  the  the- 
atrical profession  and  the  public. 

10.  Richard  Mansfield,  whose  untiring  and  persist- 
ent efforts  to  raise  the  artistic  level  of  the  stage  have 
provided  the  best  incentive  for  the  rising  generations 
of  the  theatre. 

11.  Otto  H.  Kahn,  to  whom  the  public  is  indebted 
for  the  elimination  of  commercialism  in  grand  opera 
presentation  and  on  whom  the  "New  Theatre  prob- 
lem" rests  for  solution. 

12.  Sarah  Bernhardt,  the  Titaness  of  two  centuries, 
who  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  sets  an  example  for  her 
confreres  of  the  stage  by  perpetuating  the  classics  of 
Moliere,  Dumas  and  Sardou — whose  devotion  to  ar- 
tistic ideals  has  caused  her  name  to  be  emblazoned  in 
the  hall  of  fame  and  who  stands  almost  alone  in  her 
refusal  to  succumb  to  modernism. 

13.  Mary  Anderson  de  Navarro,  who  achieved  fame 
and  relinquished  fortune  almost  simultaneously  with 


76 C&e    S>tage    in    tfre 

her  retirement  from  the  stage,  and  has  alone  of  all  of 
her  colleagues  remained  steadfast  to  their  vows  never 
to  return  to  a  stage  career, .  despite  that  she  had  not 
accumulated  wealth  before  her  marriage  and  in  the 
face  of  persistent  offers  of  fabulous  sums  to  return  to 
the  glare  of  the  footlights. 

14.  Adelina  Patti,  who  for  thirty-five  years  reigned 
as  queen  of  song,  during  which  period  she  was  with- 
out rivals  and  whose  successor  has  not  yet  appeared 
on  the  horizon. 

15.  Benjamin  Franklin  Keith,  who  created  the  era 
of  refined  vaudeville  as  a  result  of  an  adamantine  en- 
deavor to  extinguish  vulgarity  from  what  had  been 
called  "varieties,"  and  whose  efforts  have  combined 
to  bring    about  a  prolonged    period  of  unparalleled 
prosperity  for  many  thousands  of  persons  who  other- 
wise might  not  have  been  enriched. 

16.  Charles  Frohman,  who  was  the  first  theatrical 
manager,  laboring    in  a  propitious    era,  to  combine 
artistic  ideals  with  modern  benefits  and  present  high 
grade  plays  with  the  best    players,  always    holding 
artistic  achievement  above  material  gain,  and  though 
he  has  controlled  the  most  potent  plays  and  players, 
he  has  not  amassed  wealth  commensurate  with  the 
opportunity  for  doing  so. 

17.  Augustin  Daly,  who  left  for  the  stage  calling  as 
a  heritage  the  records  of  his  long  and  unexampled 
career  as  a  producer  of  plays,  and  who  kindled  the 
divine  spark  in  Ada  Rehan,  Fanny  Davenport  and 
Clara  Morris. 

18.  David  Belasco,  to  whom  the  public  is  indebted 
for  the  best  plays  and  the  best  stage  presentations  to 
be  seen  in  the  second  decade  of  the  Twentieth  Cen- 


MME.  JEANNE  GERVILLE  REACHE 


VLADIMIR  DE  PACKMAN 


JOHN    R.    KIRK 

President    of    the     State    Normal     School    in 
Kirksville,    Mo. 


D.    R.    GEBHART 

Director    of    Music   of   the    State 
Normal    School    in    Kirks- 
ville,   Mo. 


Prominent  in   the   Musical   Field. 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  77 

tury,  and  to  whom  the  theatrical  profession  is  indebted 
for  the  distinction  which  the  efforts  of  a  Belasco  casts 
on  it  as  a  whole. 

19.  Oscar  Hammerstein,  who  created  the  "theatre 
zone"  of  New  York;   who   created   a   new  public  for 
grand  opera  —  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  known 
to  mankind;  who  proved  to  be  false  the  predictions 
that  novelties  in  grand  opera  spell  bankruptcy,  and 
who,  because  of  financial  rather  than  artistic  obliga- 
tions,  has  been  forced  to  glorify  his   career  in  the 
evening  of  life  by  foreign  achievement  of  an  extraor- 
dinary nature. 

20.  David  Warfield,  who,  though  his  artistic  career 
had  been  inaugurated  at  the  bottom  rung  of  the  ladder 
of  fame,  and  whose  earlier  career  indicated  talent  of 
a  less  dignified  order,  has  survived  to  become  undoubt- 
edly the  leader  of  the  American  stage,  and  by  reason 
of  an  artistry  possessed  by  no  other  player  in  the 
world,  has  given    more    pleasure    to    the    play-going 
public   than  any  entertainer  of  his  generation   still 
living. 


In  the  concert  field  activity  is  now  greater  than  at 
any  time  in  the  last  twenty-five  years.  The  stars  of 
the  opera  and  well  known  instrumentalists,  as  well  as 
the  increased  number  of  symphony  orchestras,  find  a 
large  public  response  to  their  efforts,  and  this  has 
brought  about  a  prolific  field  for  what  is  known  as 
"concert  direction." 

M.  H.  Hanson,  always  prominent  as  an  impresario, 
has  enlarged  plans  for  the  future,  and  the  season  of 


78_ Cfte  JStage  in  tfre 

1912-13  finds  his  activities  on  a  scale  illustrative  of 
the  modern  American  entrepreneur,  who  no  longer  is 
content  to  confine  himself  to  one  or  two  enterprises. 
Mr.  Hanson,  still  a  young  man,  came  here  from  abroad 
to  observe  musical  conditions  not  so  many  years  ago 
and  at  once  identified  himself  with  a  musical  bureau, 
thus  obtaining  practical  experience.  His  direction 
of  the  tournees  in  this  country  of  Dr.  Wiillner  and  Fer- 
ruccio  Busoni  served  to  establish  his  reputation  for 
all  time,  and  each  year  he  has  increased  the  scope 
of  his  operations,  until  to-day  Mr.  Hanson  controls 
enough  stars  of  the  first  magnitude  to  provide  a  nation 
with  musical  events.  Besides  the  two  great  artists 
named,  we  are  to  have  first  Leon  Rains,  whose  re- 
markable success  has  been  such  as  to  place  him  in  the 
very  first  rank  of  the  musical  celebrities  of  to-day. 

Mr.  Hanson  has  assumed  the  sole  direction  of  the 
artistic  ^career  of  Mme.  Marie  Rappold,  who  has  been 
occupying  an  eminent  position  in  the  world  of  music 
and  has  appeared  in  nearly  all  of  the  great  festivals, 
while  the  demand  for  her  services  for  the  next  two 
years  has  come  from  nearly  every  locality  where  music 
is  a  factor.  Boris  Hambourg  is  another  of  Mr.  Han- 
son's stars,  and  Bernice  de  Pasquali  and  Georg  Hen- 
schel  serve  to  complete  a  list  that  any  impresario 
might  be  proud  of;  but  Mr.  Hanson  is  negotiating 
with  many  other  attractions,  while  his  bureau  is  a 
veritable  musical  beehive,  where  the  presiding  officials 
are  always  on  the  alert  for  the  appearance  on  the 
horizon  of  some  new  stellar  light.  It  is  to  this  bureau 
that  the  many  musical  societies  and  clubs  are  wont  to 
go  for  their  musical  talent. 

The  Quinlan-Wolfsohn  Musical  Bureau  is  an  insti- 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 79 

tution  wielding  an  influence  that  is  world-wide.  Mr. 
Quinlan  remains  in  London,  where  his  interests  are 
on  an  enormous  scale,  and  the  New  York  offices  are 
in  charge  of  Mr.  Adams.  The  tours  of  Madame 
Schumann-Heink  and  Josef  Hofmann  are  under 
this  direction,  and  Louise  Homer  makes  tours 
before  and  after  the  opera  season  under  the  same 
guidance,  while  Caruso,  if  all  goes  well,  and  this  illus- 
trious artist  sustains  the  normal  condition  of  his  voice, 
will  head  a  concert  organization  which  should  estab- 
lish some  new  records  in  the  way  of  box-office  receipts, 
for  the  illness  of  this  superb  artist  has  only  added  to 
his  vogue.  Other  artists  in  the  Quinlan-Wolfsohn 
roster  are  Florence  Hinkle,  Reed  Miller,  Zimbalist, 
the  Russian  violinist;  Clarence  Whitehill,  Herbert 
Witherspoon,  Rosalie  Wirthlin  and  Reinald  Warren- 
rath. 

Early  in  1912  Mr.  Quinlan  retired  from  the  above 
bureau  which  is  now  conducted  under  the  original 
name  of  Wolfsohn. 

Loudon  Charlton's  name  looms  up  prominently  in 
any  effort  to  record  the  musical  events  of  a  nation, 
and  here  we  have  again  evidence  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  operations  of  a  single  individual.  Mr.  Charlton's 
plans  are  truly  vast,  controlling,  as  he  does,  the  ap- 
pearances of  the  two  greatest  pianists  of  to-day- 
Harold  Bauer  and  Joseph  Lhevine;  Mme.  Kirkby 
Lunn,  the  English  contralto;  David  Bispham,  George 
Hamlin,  the  Florizaley  String  Quartette,  the  Beebe 
Dethier  Ensemble,  Madame  Gadski,  Edmond  Clement 
and  Madame  Alda.  Added  to  this  imposing  list  is  the 
famous  Philharmonic  Orchestra,  an  organization 
which  Mr.  Charlton  has  brought  to  an  exalted  state 


so C6e    §)tage    in    tfte 

by  his  conduct  of  their  artistic  pilgrimages.  Mr. 
Charlton  ended  his  connection  with  the  Philharmonic 
at  the  close  of  the  season  of  1911-12. 

Frederic  Shipman  is  a  young  Canadian  impresario 
who  has  come  forward  with  leaps  and  bounds  in  the 
last  few  years.  Mr.  Shipman  seems  to  have  a  great 
preference  for  the  prima  donnas  of  the  Maurice  Grau 
regime  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  for  he  has 
no  less  than  three  of  the  most  potent  of  these  under 
his  exclusive  direction,  as  far  as  the  United  States  and 
Canada  are  concerned.  Fancy  one  director  in  charge 
of  the  tours  of  three  stars  of  the  opera  like  Melba, 
Eames  and  Nordica!  Yet  that  is  just  what  we  see  in 
this  second  decade  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  and 
Mr.  Shipman  has  by  no  means  reached  the  zenith  of 
his  career.  Moreover,  the  results  achieved  by  him 
with  Melba  and  Nordica  have  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  treat  with  other  celebrities,  for  the  greater  the 
artist  the  greater  the  need  for  competent  business 
direction. 

This  is  so  true  that  no  one  is  surprised  at  the  loy- 
alty of  Madame  Tetrazzini  to  her  present  manager, 
William  H.  Leahy,  who  was  the  first  to  realize  the 
great  soprano's  merits,  and  he  has  shown  by  the 
manner  in  which  he  has  directed  her  recent  tours  that 
he  is  possessed  of  the  "showmanship"  (and  there  is  no 
other  word  to  express  the  writer's  meaning)  that 
made  Henry  E.  Abbey  so  celebrated  in  his  day. 
Leahy  has  simply  resorted  to  Patti  methods  in  the 
conduct  of  the  great  coloratura  singer's  tours,  and  the 
reward  has  been  large  indeed !  Other  impresarios  look 
on  in  amazement  and  with  envy  at  the  tremendous 
Tetrazzini  boom,  and  they  will  continue  to  do  so  for 


EMMA    EAMES  MME.    FRANCES   ALDA. 

Operatic   Stars   and    Their   Manager. 


Ctoenttetl)    Centiuj/  8i 

many  years  to  come,  for  here  at  last  has  been  found 
the  real  successor  to  Adelina  Patti,  and  this,  too,  from 
almost  every  viewpoint. 

R.  E.  Johnston  is  perhaps  the  oldest  in  service  of 
any  of  the  gentlemen  now  operating  in  the  distinct 
concert  field.  He  is,  too,  thoroughly  representative 
of  the  old  school  of  managers,  but  who  has  kept  his 
business  methods  modernized  up  to  the  minute.  Mr. 
Johnston  is  one  of  those  rare  specimens  of  frankness 
in  his  expressions,  who  never  fear  to  say  what  they 
think,  and  his  ideas  as  regards  musical  progress  may 
shock  those  enthusiasts  who  believe  we  have  reached 
the  musical  millennium. 

To  the  writer  Mr.  Johnston  spoke  as  follows:  "It 
is  only  because  the  majority  of  the  people  who  go  to 
the  opera  do  not  understand  what  it  is  all  about  that 
they  go  at  all,  and  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  compre- 
hend things  they  stop  going.  The  great  prosperity 
throughout  the  country  for  all  our  musical  attractions 
is  based  on  this  state  of  affairs,  and  the  less  the  public 
knows  about  what  we  put  before  them  the  more 
business  we  do." 

Mr.  Johnston  has  no  faith  in  a  national  opera,  and 
he  thinks  that  the  operatic  fad  will  "come  a  cropper" 
unless  a  state  of  ignorance  prevails,  such  as  he  claims 
does  prevail  now!  But  Mr.  Johnston's  viewpoint  is 
not  wholly  wrong,  for  it  is  a  fact  that  the  majority  of 
our  audiences  at  the  opera  houses  actually  suffer  as 
they  sit  in  their  seats  and  boxes;  in  fact,  it  is  known 
that  when  the  Wagner  trilogy  was  given  last  year  the 
darkened  auditorium  was  taken  advantage  of  by  many 
to  indulge  in  a  prolonged  slumber!  But  this  is  a  con- 
dition well  understood  and  also  one  gradually  improv- 


82 Cbc    g>tage    in    tfre 

ing,  for  the  phonograph  and  the  player-piano  have 
created  many  real  music  lovers,  and  now  the  galleries 
and  balconies  of  our  opera  houses  are  crowded  with 
them.  This  is  true  to  even  a  greater  extent  in  the 
concert  field,  where  the  world's  greatest  singers  and 
musicians  are  now  heard  by  thousands,  who  received 
their  incentive  from  hearing  the  vocal  records  in  their 
own  homes  and  elsewhere. 

A  new  concert  direction  is  that  of  Mrs.  E.  M.  S. 
Fite,  who  has  as  her  leading  attraction  Madame  de 
Cisneros,  of  the  Chicago  Grand  Opera  Company.  Mrs. 
Fite  will  also  present  a  large  array  of  potent  vocal 
and  instrumental  artists,  conspicuous  among  whom 
is  Mme.  Maria  Cuellar,  a  Spanish  pianiste,  who  is 
compared  with  Paderewski  in  her  native  land.  Mrs. 
Fite  is  likely  to  set  a  rapid  pace  for  some  of  her  col- 
leagues of  the  opposite  sex,  if  one  may  judge  from 
the  aggressiveness  which  characterizes  her  business 
procedure. 

Marc  Lagen,  while  not  altogether  a  newcomer  in 
the  musical  field,  has  come  forward  in  the  last  year 
with  a  vigorous  impetus.  Mr.  Lagen  is  a  young  gen- 
tleman of  large  social  acquaintance  and  this  has  stood 
him  well  in  the  creation  of  a  large  clientele.  It  is  a 
fact  that  the  "concert  direction"  is  presided  over  by 
men  who  seem  to  comprehend  the  need  of  superior 
business  methods  in  the  exploitation  of  their  attrac- 
tions, and  this  probably  accounts  for  the  large  audi- 
ences attracted  by  these,  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
great  slump  recorded  in  the  dramatic  field;  in  fact, 
the  prosperity  prevailing  in  the  musical  world  is  one 
of  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  worst  theatrical 
season  in  thirty  years,  that  of  the  season  of  1911-12. 


Ctoetttiett)    Cetttutp 83 

The  firm  of  Haensel  &  Jones  was  organized 
in  1906  by  Fitzhugh  W.  Haensel,  a  writer  on 
musical  topics,  connected  with  various  New  York 
publications,  and  W.  Spencer  Jones,  of  Toronto,  Can- 
ada, then  independently  active  as  an  impresario  in 
Canada,  Australia  and  South  Africa. 

The  firm  to-day  ranks  among  the  three  or  four  most 
important  musical  managers  in  America,  and  the  scope 
of  its  activity  is  constantly  widening.  It  has  corre- 
spondents in  all  the  important  European  centres  of 
music  and  will  shortly  enter  the  South  American  field. 
Haensel  &  Jones  are  the  sole  managers  of  Mr.  Wal- 
ter Damrosch  and  the  New  York  Symphony  Orchestra 
and  among  the  concert  stars  who  have  been,  or  are 
now  under  their  management,  may  be  mentioned  Al- 
essandro  Bonci,  the  great  Italian  tenor,  who  has  made 
all  his  concert  tours  under  their  direction;  Isadora 
Duncan,  the  famous  classic  dancer;  Mme.  Jeanne 
Gerville-Reache,  the  great  French  operatic  contralto; 
Mr.  Francis  Macmillen,  the  eminent  American  violin- 
ist; Mme.  Jeanne  Jomelli,  the  Dutch  prima  donna  so- 
prano; Nicola  Zerola,  the  Italian  tenor  who  has 
been  called  the  second  Tamazno;  Mme.  Car- 
men Melis,  the  dramatic  soprano  of  the  Boston 
Opera  Company;  Watkin  Mills,  the  great  Eng- 
lish basso;  Clarence  Eddy,  the  famous  organist; 
Mme.  Lillian  Blauvelt,  the  prima  donna  soprano;  Ar- 
thur Hartman,  the  Hungarian  violinist ;  Augusta  Cott- 
low,  pianist;  Edna  Blanche  Showalter,  now  prima 
donna  soprano  of  the  Henry  W.  Savage  "Girl  of  the 
Golden  West  Company;  Miss  Florence  Hinkle,  so- 
prano; Miss  Christine  Miller,  the  well-known  con- 
tralto; Gertrude  Peppercorn,  the  English  pianist; 


84 CSe   g)tage    in    tfte 

Cesar  Thomson,  the  great  Belgian  violinist;  Arthur 
Shattuck  and  Helena  Lewyn,  two  well-known  Ameri- 
can pianists ;  the  famous  Adamowski  Trio ;  the  equally 
•well-known  Olive  Mead  Quartette,  and  many  others. 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  85 


CHAPTER  V 

The  demand  for  scenarios  in  the  moving  picture  in- 
dustry has  brought  about  an  active,  if  not  lucrative 
line  of  endeavor  for  perhaps  the  largest  number  of 
writers  known  to  any  literary  calling,  though  it  does 
seem  certain  that  few  have  mastered  the  problems 
that  the  technique  and  philosophy  of  the  silent  drama 
abound  in. 

A  veritable  genius,  however,  has  been  discovered  in 
the  person  of  Emmett  Campbell  Hall,  of  Glen  Echo, 
Maryland,  who,  although  he  had  been  a  contributor  to 
many  magazines  and  periodicals,  was  quite  unknown 
to  the  amusement  field  until  in  January,  1910,  Mr. 
Hall's  first  scenario  was  accepted  by  the  Lubin  Com- 
pany at  the  maximum  price  then  prevailing,  and  of  the 
first  one  hundred  scenarios  written  by  him,  ninety- 
eight  were  sold  to  the  various  manufacturers.  Mr.  Hall 
also  has  to  his  credit  the  first  original  two-reel  photo- 
plays ever  produced  in  America,  released  by  the  Bio- 
graph  Company,  under  the  titles,  "His  Trust"  and 
"His  Trust  Fulfilled/' 

At  the  time  of  this  writing  the  scenario  question 
is  one  that  is  arousing  much  discussion,  owing  to  the 
policy  of  according  a  rather  uniform  rate,  wholly  ig- 
noring the  average  of  merit  and  the  reputation  of  the 
writer  in  arranging  compensation.  But  this  is  a  status 
that  can  not  be  in  order  for  any  length  of  time,  be- 
cause the  progress  of  the  moving  picture  has  been  on 


86 Cfte    g>tage    in    t&e 

such  a  scale  that  the  desire  for  superlative  material 
has  already  attracted  the  better  known  authors,  while 
the  playwrights  affiliated  with  the  legitimate  theatres 
and  with  the  vaudevilles  are  being  sought  and  will  be 
found  gradually  active  in  the  newer  field. 

The  fact  that  the  author  of  a  photo-play  is  not  cred- 
ited is  a  great  barrier,  for  the  incentive  whi^h  comes 
from  fame  is  now  lacking,  but  these  are  conditions  ex- 
isting in  the  infancy  of  an  industry  where  the  problems 
of  supply  and  demand  are  in  the  process  of  solution. 

Since  the  above  was  written  nearly  all  of  the  film 
companies  advertise  the  author  of  photo-plays. 

Schools  where  the  art  of  scenario-writing  is  taught, 
are  springing  up  all  over  the  country,  but  the  pioneer 
institution  is  the  one  presided  over  by  E.  F.  Mc- 
Intyre  in  Chicago  and  known  as  "The  Associated  Mo- 
tion Picture  Schools.'*  The  layman  would  be  aston- 
ished were  the  vogue  of  these  schools  completely  re- 
vealed. It  is  a  fact,  however,  that,  while  Mr.  Hall's 
success  has  been  quite  unusual,  there  are  many  others 
who  dispose  of  an  average  of  one  scenario  a  week ;  on 
the  other  hand,  as  evidence  of  the  wide  range  of  activ- 
ity, one  manufacturer  states  that  of  more  than  two 
hundred  scenarios  accepted  from  January  1st  to 
October  15th,  1911,  the  average  was  less  than  three 
to  one  author. 

It  must  be  understood  that  in  this  country  alone 
there  are  forty-two  manufacturers  with  an  output  of 
from  one  to  five  reels  each  week,  the  larger  number 
being  released  by  the  Vitagraph,  Selig  and  Essanay 
companies,  but  all  are  gradually  increasing  their  num- 
ber of  releases,  while  in  one  month  in  1911  four  new- 
comers entered  the  field,  viz. :  the  Republic,  the  Majes- 


CHARLES  URBAN 

Inventor    of    "Kinemacolor"    (Motion    Pictures) 
The    Man    Who    Caught   Nature    Napping 


C  to  e  n  t  i  e  1 6    Centutg 87 

tic,  the  Comet  and  the  St.  Louis  companies.  More- 
over, the  foreign  film  companies,  realizing  the  increas- 
ing expansion  of  the  industry,  are  installing  branch 
plants  in  America.  This  is  true  of  the  Eclair,  Pathe 
Freres  and  the  Gaumont  companies. 

One  must  marvel  at  the  growth  of  the  industry  it- 
self, when  it  is  realized  that  the  average  film  release 
is  seen  for  one  day  only  in  the  more  than  ten  thousand 
theatres  where  cinematography  is  the  attraction.  Often 
a  photo-play,  involving  an  outlay  of  $25,000,  and  which 
had  been  in  preparation  for  more  than  a  year,  will 
have  but  one  day's  showing,  but  this  unique  condition 
has  aroused  considerable  protest  and  has  also  caused 
the  advent  of  the  special  release,  such  as  "The  Cru- 
saders'* and  "Dante's  Inferno,"  as  well  as  the  revolu- 
tional  Kinemacolor  pictures,  and  these  have  created 
such  a  furore  that  their  exhibition  in  the  larger  cities 
has  produced  a  serious  competition  with  the  regular 
houses  where  photo-plays  are  on  view. 

One  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  said  to  have  been 
the  amount  expended  on  the  "Dante's  Inferno"  film, 
and  two  years  of  preparation  were  required.  The 
reader  can  comprehend  the  vastness  of  such  an  under- 
taking, when  it  is  declared  that  this  sum  is  in  excess 
of  what  it  cost  Klaw  and  Erlanger  to  evolve  "Ben 
Hur,"  a  play  now  in  its  twelfth  year,  and  which  has 
realized  a  profit  of  more  than  two  million  dollars  in 
that  period.  The  cost  of  the  film,  depicting  the  coro- 
nation festivities  by  the  Kinemacolor  Company  was 
far  greater;  in  fact,  no  spectacle  in  stage  history,  not 
even  the  Hippodrome  offerings,  ever  involved  the  out- 
lay of  this  colossal  combination  of  science  and  artifice. 
The  Kinemacolor  Company  is  capitalized  at  six  mil- 


88  C&e    Stage    intfte 

lions;  as  yet  the  company  is  in  the  primitive  period, 
but  it  is  predicted  that  Kinemacolor  theatres  are  to  be 
erected  in  every  large  city  in  the  world  in  the  next  five 
years,  and  that  the  company  will  stand  alone  in  a 
policy  almost  unbelievable  as  to  its  scope  and  purpose. 

The  Eclair  Film  Company,  though  an  independent 
force,  has  set  the  pace  all  over  Europe  by  its  daring 
exploitations — always  noted  for  its  superior  projection 
as  well  as  the  excellence  of  its  stock  companies,  se- 
lected from  the  creme  de  la  creme  of  the  Parisian 
theatres, 

Sarah  Bernhardt  has  established  a  precedent  for  pos- 
terity that  must  have  its  effect,  for  who  shall  say  nay 
to  the  camera  man,  when  with  grace  and  dignity  the 
greatest  actress  of  her  generation  has  been  content 
to  act  "Camille"  before  the  camera  man? 

In  America  we  have  not  yet  witnessed  the  stampede 
of  players  toward  cinematography,  but  it  is  quite  the 
same  with  vaudeville,  until  such  superb  artists  as  Mau- 
rice Barrymore,  Rose  Coghlan,  Clara  Morris,  Robert 
Milliard,  John  Mason,  Marie  Wainwright,  and  others 
showed  the  way,  until  to-day  no  surprise  would  be 
manifested  if  a  John  Drew  or  even  a  Maud  Adams 
were  to  change  their  artistic  environment,  temporarily, 
and  with  grace  and  distinction. 

The  American  film  manufacturers,  however,  are 
watching  the  legitimate  stage  with  an  eagerness  that  is 
amplified  by  what  has  developed  in  the  last  few 
months.  The  Essanay  Company,  presided  over  as  it 
is,  by  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  moving  picture  indus- 
try, George  K.  Spoor,  is  a  large  institution,  with  an 
influence  so  great  that  it  is  constantly  referred  to  in 
the  public  press  as  one  of  the  striking  illustrations  of 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 89 

Western  energy  and  thrift.  The  resources  of  the  Es- 
sanay  Company  are  such  that  it  often  is  enabled  to 
achieve  great  "scoops"  over  its  rivals;  moreover,  it 
is  a  custom  of  this  company  to  set  apart  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  its  capital  and  facilities  for  the  release  of  edu- 
cational and  industrial  films,  a  policy  in  which  they 
might  well  be  emulated. 

The  Selig  Company,  also  of  Chicago,  is  perhaps  the 
most  expansive  organization  in  this  country  for  the 
production  of  film,  and  it  has  also  the  largest  plant  in 
the  Windy  City,  covering  an  area  of  nearly  four  square 
blocks.  W.  N.  Selig,  the  founder  of  the  colossal  en- 
terprise, was  one  of  the  first  to  grasp  the  significance 
of  the  silent  drama,  and  his  achievements  indicate  the 
ceaseless  toil  he  and  his  army  of  aids  have  expended 
in  order  to  arrive  at  the  state  the  house  of  Selig  enjoys 
to-day.  Besides  the  large  Chicago  plant,  Mr.  Selig 
maintains  in  Los  Angeles,  California,  a  studio  of  al- 
most equal  proportions,  where  a  stock  company  of 
players  are  engaged  the  year  around.  It  was  while 
visiting  his  far  Western  studio  that  Mr.  Selig  came 
near  being  the  victim  of  a  tragedy  in  October,  1911 ;  in 
fact,  while  Mr.  Selig  himself  was  miraculously  spared 
from  the  shooting  attack  of  a  Japanese  employee,  one 
of  his  most  valued  aids,  Francis  Boggs,  gave  up  his 
life  while  defending  his  employer. 

Mr.  Selig  showed  a  fine  discernment  when  he  se- 
lected Miss  Mabel  Taliaferro  to  assume  the  title  role 
in  the  film  production  of  "Cinderella."  Surely  the 
utilization  of  this  fine  theme  for  motion  pictures  opens 
up  a  prolific  field  for  the  producers,  and  one  can  only 
conjecture  how  great  will  be  the  vogue  of  the  camera 
man,  if  the  dear  old  fairy-plays,  and  the  entrancing 


90  C&c   Stage    in    t&e 

pantomimic  spectacles  that  were  wont  to  hold  sway 
in  England  around  Boxing  Day  time,  should  really  be- 
come transferred  to  the  screen. 

The  indefatigable  Vitagraph  Company,  even  before 
the  era  of  the  photo-play,  was  a  decisive  force,  for  in 
its  quest  for  "actualities"  for  portrayal  on  the  screen, 
its  officers  seemingly  defied  nature's  laws,  and  there 
has  never  been  a  period  in  the  fifteen  years  of  their 
activity  that  the  Vitagraph  has  not  been  the  choice  of 
vaudeville  managers,  and  this  is  still  true  to-day  in 
theatres  where  the  motion  picture  is  merely  a  pro- 
gramme number. 

One  may  recognize  more  well-known  players  of  the 
Broadway  type  in  the  releases  of  the  Vitagraph  Com- 
pany, than  are  to  be  seen  in  a  Frohman  production  of 
this  period.  This  is  so  true  that  there  has  been  a  con- 
stant wail  of  late  in  the  sanctums  of  the  theatrical 
magnates  over  the  unavailability  of  so  many  potent 
players  who  until  recently  were  always  at  the  disposal 
of  these  gentlemen.  The  roster  of  the  Vitagraph  Com- 
pany contains  at  least  twelve  actors  and  actresses 
whose  weekly  honorarium  has  been  listed  at  from 
$100  to  $200  each;  scarcely  one  has  an  unfamiliar 
name,  and  the  producers  or  stage  directors  are  all  of 
the  Broadway  calibre. 

The  Edison  film  releases  are  always  recognizable 
by  that  intellectual  atmosphere,  so  suggestive  of  the 
guiding  mind  of  the  "wizard  of  Menlo  Park."  In  the 
last  ten  years  the  Edison  producers  have  resorted  to 
every  conceivable  uplifting  theme  in  their  determined 
purpose  to  constantly  raise  the  artistic  calibre  of  their 
productions.  Some  of  the  very  best  players  are  to  be 
found  posing  before  the  Edison  cameras,  among  these 


Ctoentietf)    Centurg  91 

one  Booth,  a  nephew  of  Edwin,  is  prominent,  while 
one  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  American  stage  is  easily 
recognized  in  Robert  Brower,  whose  portrayals  indi- 
cate that  he  has  thoroughly  studied  the  philosophy  of 
the  silent  drama.  At  least  one  of  the  Edison  players 
is  being  watched  with  a  view  to  stellar  honors  in  Miss 
Mabel  Trunelle,  who  possesses  that  rare  gift  of  simu- 
lating extreme  youth  without  that  exaggerative 
method  so  close  to  burlesque. 


In  a  season  noted  for  disastrous  conditions  for  pro- 
ducers, there  has  been  one  striking  display  of  that 
showmanship  so  rarely  in  evidence  in  these  days.  Mr. 
Gus  Hill  has  once  more  illustrated  his  keen  discern- 
ment in  measuring  the  taste  of  that  public  which  he 
has  been  wont  to  deal  with;  others  had  plays  written 
around  the  various  cartoon  themes,  featured  in  our  big 
daily  newspapers,  but  Mr.  Hill  seems  alone  to  be  able 
to  present  such  stage  offerings  in  a  manner  that  will 
endure.  Nothing  this  manager  has  ever  attempted  has 
had  the  financial  success  that  has  attended  the  ex- 
ploitation of  "Mutt  and  Jeff"  in  the  playhouses. 

Four  companies  on  tour  are  carrying  everything 
before  them,  and  the  box-office  receipts  of  at  least  one 
of  these  organizations  would  excite  the  envy  of  an  op- 
eratic impresario.  Mr.  Hill  is  not  noted  for  any  prodi- 
gal waste  in  the  equipping  of  his  organization,  hence 
one  may  wonder  as  to  the  amount  of  the  surplus  profits 
of  this  one  production.  The  estimated  total  conserved 
for  Mr.  Hill's  plethoric  bank  account,  as  a  result  ol 
the  season  of  1911-12,  is  placed  at  $150,000. 


92  C&e    Stage    in    tfte 

With  the  production  of  "Vera  Violetta"  at  the  Win- 
ter Garden,  the  Messrs.  Shubert  have  solved  the  prob- 
lem of  that  institution  perhaps  for  all  time.  In  all  the 
years  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  observe  the  launching 
of  plays  and  spectacles,  nothing  so  commendable  or  so 
tremendous  in  its  line  has  been  witnessed  as  this  man- 
agement brought  forth  on  the  inaugural  night.  Of 
course,  the  engagement  of  so  many  popular  players 
and  specialists  was  likely  to  bring  results,  but  the  way 
everything  was  "put  across"  the  footlights  indicated 
the  presence  of  a  master  producer.  It  seems  that  this 
production  was  found  to  be  cumbersome  at  the  out-of- 
town  "try-out."  To  attain  a  concrete  and  smooth  en- 
semble, William  A.  Brady  was  appealed  to  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  and  the  results  achieved  covered  that 
gentleman  with  even  more  than  the  customary  glory. 
It  is  extremely  likely  that  Mr.  Brady  will  figure  more 
conspicuously  in  this  line  of  entertainment  in  the 
future  than  in  the  past,  though  no  one  will  believe  that 
he  will  not  feel  reluctant  to  identify  himself  with  this 
frivolous  type  of  show.  But  in  a  year  such  as  the  present 
a  producer  as  deeply  involved  as  Mr.  Brady,  must  bow 
to  the  conditions  as  he  finds  them;  but  let  no  one  as- 
sume that  the  profits  will  be  prodigious.  The  weekly 
salaries  of  Gaby  Deslys  and  Annette  Kellermann  alone 
came  to  the  average  gross  receipts  of  a  successful  play 
in  New  York,  and  the  total  budget  of  the  Winter  Gar- 
den, aside  from  the  first  outlay,  will  not  figure  much 
less  than  the  expenditures  of  a  similar  period  at  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House.  It  was  a  happy  thought 
on  the  part  of  the  Messrs.  Shubert  to  engage  Annette 
Kellermann,  and  this  remarkable  woman  is  creating 
a  new  public.  After  all  the  original  of  any  craze  or 


Ctoentiett)    Centutp  _  93 

fad  alone  seems  to  prosper  for  any  length  of  time;  all 
of  Miss  Kellermann's  imitators  have  passed  into  seem- 
ing oblivion,  while  the  diving  Venus  herself  finds  her 
greatest  vogue  after  she  has  been  four  years  almost 
continuously  before  the  same  public.  Miss  Keller- 
mann's advent  in  a  theatre,  where  $2.50  is  the  price  of 
seats,  was  criticised  by  those  knowing  gentlemen  who 
persistently  "call  the  turn,"  but  this  lady  has  for  a 
manager  a  young  man  whose  rise  has  not  been  less 
meteoric  than  her  own,  and  it  is  a  source  of  great  sat- 
isfaction to  the  writer  to  see  such  dignified  methods  as 
those  practiced  by  Mr.  James  R.  Sullivan,  have  re- 
sulted in  Miss  Kellermann's  evolution  as  a  big  Broad- 
way attraction. 


There  are  a  number  of  young  men  occupying  a  not 
very  conspicuous  position  in  the  amusement  world  at 
this  time,  but  who  are  likely  to  become  the  most  im- 
portant factors,  operating  in  the  distinctly  business  side 
of  the  theatre.  It  is  also  worthy  of  record  that  by 
reason  of  the  great  fortunes  they  are  likely  to  inherit, 
and  the  vast  theatrical  properties  which  will  ulti- 
mately fall  in  their  care,  this  new  generation  of  show- 
men will  not  have  to  undergo  any  of  the  hardships 
passed  through  by  the  men  who  labored  in  a  more  pre- 
carious era. 

Charles  E.  Kohl  is  the  son  of  the  esteemed  Chi- 
cago showman,  who  passed  away  during  the  year.  The 
late  Mr.  Kohl  was  many  times  a  millionaire,  and  his 
properties  were  all  of  a  thriving  nature,  insuring  large 
annual  incomes.  Few  of  these  have  been  disposed 


94 Cfje    §)tage    in    t&e 

of  by  the  widow,  and  enough  remain  to  justify  the 
commendable  procedure  of  the  son,  who  recently  as- 
sumed active  charge  of  the  affairs  of  his  father.  The 
younger  Mr.  Kohl  is  wealthy  in  his  own  right  and  is 
extremely  likely  to  become  a  formidable  figure  in  the 
West  in  due  course. 

F.  F.  Proctor,  Jr.,  was  actually  trained  for  a  mana- 
gerial career,  and  the  method  used  by  his  father  to 
facilitate  his  progress,  was  unique  and  practical;  the 
elder  Proctor  knew  his  book  so  well  that  he  placed 
the  son  in  different  executive  positions  under  trained 
men,  and  each  year  the  authority,  as  well  as  the  com- 
pensation for  the  boy  increased,  until  he  became  the 
general  manager  of  his  father's  enormous  enterprises. 
The  Proctor  interests  have  developed  greatly  in  the 
last  two  years,  and  credit  is  generally  given  to  young 
Frederick  for  the  results  attained.  One  must  assume 
under  the  conditions  prevailing  that  the  latter  will 
gradually  evolve  as  a  magnate  of  importance. 

A.  Paul  Keith  is  the  son  of  the  pioneer  "continuous 
performance,"  Benjamin  F.  Keith,  and  like  young  Mr. 
Proctor,  he  has  been  closely  affiliated  with  his  father's 
affairs  almost  from  the  outset  of  the  era  of  refined 
vaudeville,  in  fact  the  latter  is  personally  interested 
in  several  important  enterprises  and  is  the  owner  of 
at  least  one  theatre,  bearing  the  Keith  name.  It  does 
not  require  any  great  stretch  of  the  imagination  to 
justify  the  prediction  that  this  young  man  with  his 
experience  and  wealth  will  play  a  vigorous  part  in 
the  theatrical  world  in  the  next  generation,  and  one 
must  wonder  to  what  extent  the  Keith  institution  will 
expand  with  all  the  ammunition  for  enlargement  pos- 
sessed by  the  descendant  of  its  esteemed  founder. 


Ctoentfett)    Centurg 95 

Reed  Albee  is  another  of  the  sons  of  important  theat- 
rical magnates  whose  experience  has  been  gained 
through  practical  means.  Having  had  a  thorough  busi- 
ness training,  his  father,  Edward  F.  Albee,  general 
manager  of  the  Keith  enterprises,  placed  his  son  in 
charge  of  the  Union  Square  Theatre,  and  he  has  also 
managed  other  Keith  houses.  Then  young  Albee  be- 
came a  booking  agent,  and  he  is  now  the  senior  mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  Albee,  Webber  and  Evans,  who  con- 
duct an  agency  of  large  scope  and  enormous  income. 

The  sons  of  theatrical  managers  had  no  such  op- 
portunities at  the  time  when  such  men  as  Keith,  Proc- 
tor, Kohl  and  Albee  began  their  struggle;  there  were 
no  millionaires  in  those  days  in  the  amusement  world, 
hence  the  achievements  of  the  younger  generation 
should  be  proportionately  far  greater,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  development  of  the  careers  of  the 
younger  men  will  be  watched  with  great  interest. 

Joseph  Klaw  is  the  son  of  Marc  Klaw.  He  is  act- 
ively employed  in  the  business  office  of  the  firm  of 
Klaw  &  Erlanger.  The  elder  Klaw  having  evolved 
from  the  editorial  chair,  has  naturally  seen  to  it  that 
his  heir  should  qualify  for  the  literary  phase  of  the 
theatrical  management,  so  that  Joseph  is  being  well 
prepared  for  the  day  that  must  eventually  come,  when 
the  perpetuation  of  his  father's  vast  undertakings  will 
be  vested  in  his  hands. 

Abraham  L.  Erlanger  has  no  son,  but  in  Louis  F. 
Werba  he  has  a  nephew  who  has  already  been  through 
the  routine  of  actual  theatrical  management;  in  fact, 
in  conjunction  with  Mark  Luescher  he  has  become  one 
of  the  heads  of  the  firm  of  Werba  &  Luescher.  This 
firm  started  with  a  tremendous  success  in  "The  Spring 


96 -  C6e    g)tage    in    tfre 

Maid,"  and  their  operations  at  this  time  are  on  a  scale 
of  immensity,  such  as  never  has  been  attained  by  the 
most  important  theatrical  firms  of  thirty  years  ago. 

William  and  Arthur  Hammerstein  surely  are  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  any  effort  to  figure  out  the  captains 
of  theatrical  industry  of  to-morrow.  It  is  generally 
conceded  that  it  was  the  efforts  of  the  younger  Ham- 
mersteins  that  brought  about  an  end  to  the  senseless 
competition  between  the  two  grand  opera  houses, 
whereby  Oscar  Hammerstein  was  paid  something  like 
a  million  dollars  to  eliminate  himself  from  operatic 
activity  in  America.  It  is  well  known,  too,  that  it  was 
in  the  province  of  William  Hammerstein  to  become 
the  source  of  supply  by  which  the  opera  deficits  were 
met  through  the  gold-laden  box  office  of  the  Victoria 
Theatre,  while  Arthur  Hammerstein  showed  in  his 
production  of  "Naughty  Marietta"  that  he  is  following 
well  the  lead  of  his  illustrious  father. 

Walter  Rosenberg  is  a  typical  illustration  of  the 
sort  of  showman  evolved  in  this  era;  he  is  the  son  of 
Henry  Rosenberg,  who  in  turn  is  a  brother-in-law  of 
Oscar  Hammerstein.  The  elder  Rosenberg  retired 
from  the  theatrical  business  a  few  years  ago,  having 
accumulated  a  large  fortune,  but  he  encouraged  his 
son  Walter  in  his  efforts,  and  the  result  has  been 
really  remarkable.  Walter's  experience  was  gained 
principally  at  the  Metropolis  Theatre  in  the  Bronx, 
where  he  represented  his  father;  to-day  he  operates 
a  half-dozen  theatres,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
grasp  the  significance  of  moving  pictures  in  regular 
theatres.  He  made  a  great  deal  of  money  in  this  field, 
especially  at  the  New  York  Theatre  Roof  Garden  and 
at  the  Savoy  Theatre. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 97 

Vic  Williams  is  the  son  of  Percy  G.  Williams;  his 
future  career  has  been  safeguarded  by  a  policy  of  pro- 
motion that  the  elder  Williams  has  followed,  so  that 
the  experience  of  the  son  has  been  widely  varied.  First, 
Victor  held  a  clerical  position  in  his  father's  theatres, 
then  he  became  treasurer  of  different  theatres,  then 
manager — going  from  one  theatre  to  the  other,  and 
now  he  has  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  booking  de- 
partment of  the  entire  circuit,  in  order  that  he  may  ob- 
tain a  line  on  values  in  vaudeville.  Truly  the  rising 
generation  of  amusement  managers  is  not  of  inferior 
timber ! 

Henry  B.  Harris  has  shown  in  his  career  how  well 
the  second  generation  of  Harris  can  perpetuate  the 
name.  He  is  the  son  of  William  Harris,  the  wealthi- 
est theatrical  manager  in  this  country,  yet  the  younger 
Harris  has  become  a  millionaire  and  an  important 
magnate  without  the  aid  of  his  father,  though  it  is  true 
that  after  he  had  made  a  success  for  himself,  the  two 
became  associated  intimately,  until  to-day  they  con- 
trol theatres  and  attractions  galore. 

The  sons  of  the  late  Harry  Miner  have  been  in 
charge  of  the  estate  of  the  latter.  They  have  shown 
great  discernment  in  their  conduct  of  the  money-mak- 
ing properties  left  to  their  care. 

J.  F.  Zimmerman,  Jr.,  the  present  manager  of  the 
Gayety  Theatre  in  New  York,  is  the  eldest  son  of  J.  F. 
Zimmerman,  Sr.,  of  Philadelphia.  The  latter  is  one 
of  the  few  millionaires  in  the  amusement  calling.  His 
great  fortune  was  accumulated  through  an  almost  un- 
paralleled energy  and  industry.  The  interests  of  the 
firm  of  which  he  is  the  junior  member  are  larger  than 
those  of  any  one  concern  outside  of  New  York  City, 


98 Cfte    g)ta0e    in    tie 

though  Nixon  &  Zimmerman  are  interested  in  several 
New  York  theatres. 

David  Belasco  has  no  sons,  but  he  has  two  sons-in- 
law  who  are  giving  much  evidence  of  present  activity 
and  future  greatness.  Morris  Gest  is  the  husband  of 
the  playwright's  eldest  daughter,  and  his  career  so  far 
as  it  has  gone,  has  been  indeed  meteoric.  It  does  not 
seem  so  very  long  ago  when  he  was  a  ticket  specula- 
tor in  front  of  the  Victoria  Theatre;  to-day  he  is  the 
partner  of  F.  Ray  Comstock,  and  these  two  young  men 
control  any  number  of  theatres  and  attractions,  includ- 
ing the  large  company  of  Russian  dancers. 

Mr.  Belasco's  other  son-in-law  is  William  Eliott,  a 
popular  player,  who  recently  retired  from  the  stage  to 
become  an  important  factor  in  his  father-in-law's  af- 
fairs. He  married  the  youngest  daughter  of  Mr.  Be- 
lasco less  than  a  year  ago,  and  became  a  widower  a 
few  months  later.  It  was  when  Mr.  Belasco  became 
bereaved  of  his  father  and  daughter  within  a  few 
months  of  each  other,  that  he  took  his  son-in-law  in 
business  with  him,  and  it  is  extremely  likely  that 
Messrs.  Eliott  &  Gest  will  gradually  become  more 
identified  with  the  Belasco  institution. 

Theodore  Liebler,  Jr.,  is  the  only  son  of  the  name 
member  of  the  firm  of  Liebler  &  Company,  of  which 
George  C.  Tyler  is  the  active  head.  The  young  Mr. 
Liebler  has  had  a  perfect  college  training,  and  imme- 
diately upon  graduating,  his  father  placed  him  in  the 
press  department  of  the  firm,  where  he  had  been  the 
assistant  of  W.  W.  Aulick,  who  is  the  publicity  pro- 
moter of  Liebler  &  Company's  enterprises.  Theodore, 
Jr.,  is  a  very  hard  worker  and  an  extremely  modest 
man,  who  is  gathering  the  right  kind  of  experience  for 


Ctoentieti)    Centutg 99 

a  future  career  that  is  expected  to  bring  him  promi- 
nently among  those  managers  to  whom  the  public  of 
the  next  generation  must  look  for  their  theatrical  en- 
tertainment. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  men  who  have  sur- 
vived many  vicissitudes  in  a  propitious  era  of  the 
theatre  have  seen  the  advisability  of  preparing  their 
descendants  in  a  practical  manner  for  the  day,  when 
it  may  be  necessary  for  the  latter  to  assume  active 
charge  of  the  business  department  of  large  amusement 
institutions ;  and  if  the  American  method  of  expansion 
prevails,  then  the  second  generation  of  our  present 
providers  of  public  entertainment,  will  occupy  a  place 
even  more  conspicuous  on  the  theatrical  map  than  the 
men  who  labored  to  lift  the  amusement  calling  to  its 
present  state. 


ioo  Cfte    Stage    in    tfte 


CHAPTER  VI 

Supposing  you  were  strolling  with  a  friend  up 
Broadway,  between  Thirty-fourth  and  Forty-second 
Streets,  which  everybody  knows  is  the  absolute  heart 
of  New  York  City,  and  that  he  was  suddenly  to  stop 
and  say  that  he  wanted  to  visit,  on  business,  a  lumber 
yard,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  Broadway,  you  would 
treat  same  as  an  absurdity  and  think  naturally  that  he 
was  trying  to  perpetrate  a  joke  on  you ;  but  neverthe- 
less it  is  an  absolute  fact  that  there  is  a  well-known 
business  of  this  character  located  there. 

A  boy  with  an  old-fashioned  bean-shooter  could  hit 
the  lumber  yard  referred  to  from  the  following  loca- 
tions if  the  intervening  space  were  clear:  Herald 
Building,  Macy's,  Garrick  Theatre,  Marbridge  Build- 
ing, Herald  Square  Theatre,  Marlborough  Hotel, 
Hotel  York,  Sheridan  Building,  Hotel  Navarre,  Metro- 
politan Opera  House,  Knickerbocker  Theatre,  the  Ca- 
sino, Shubert  Building,  Empire  Theatre,  the  Maxine 
Elliott  Theatre,  Hotel  Albany,  Broadway  Theatre, 
and  possibly  the  Knickerbocker  Hotel  and  the  Times 
Building,  Art  Color  Printing  Building,  McGraw 
Building,  Thirty-ninth  Street  Theatre,  American 
Press  Association  Building  and  Pictorial  Review 
Building. 

This  lumber  yard  is  located  at  No.  140  to  150  West 
Thirty-eighth  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Seventh 
Avenue,  and  occupies  a  plot  of  land  150  feet  frontage 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  101 

by  100  feet  deep,  commencing  125  feet  west  of  Broad- 
way, and  you  can  readily  imagine  after  entering  the 
yard  proper,  with  its  high  stacks  of  lumber  cutting  off 
the  outside  view,  that  you  were  standing  at  the  out- 
skirts instead  of  in  the  absolute  central  portion  of  the 
principal  city  of  the  New  World.  The  Wright  Lum- 
ber Company,  who,  it  might  be  stated  incidentally,  are 
the  largest  dealers  of  theatrical  lumber  for  the  build- 
ing of  scenery,  in  the  world,  and  who  occupy  same  to- 
day, have  been  located  there  since  the  year  1860,  fifty- 
one  years  ago,  when,  under  the  original  name  of  the 
firm  of  Wright  &  Austin,  they  obtained  a  lease  from 
the  late  John  D.  Wendel,  and  have  remained  lessees 
ever  since.  To  try  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  surround- 
ing neighborhood  as  it  appeared  in  the  year  1854,  as 
contrasted  with  that  presented  in  the  year  1912,  would 
certainly  make  some  very  interesting  reading  if  the 
old  lumber  yard  could  tell  the  tale. 


Recently  great  strides  have  been  made  towards  the 
betterment  of  lighting  conditions  in  playhouses.  For- 
merly the  lighting  proposition  of  any  particular  thea- 
tre was  confined  primarily  to  stage  equipment,  the 
auditorium  being  taken  care  of  at  random,  that  is,  the 
light  sources  were  placed  as  seemed  to  harmonize  best 
with  the  interior  architecture  or  decorations.  Very 
little  attention  seemed  to  be  paid  to  the  actual  illumi- 
nation produced  or  required,  and  almost  invariably 
there  were  a  great  number  of  serious  objections  to  the 
final  results.  Even  where  the  actual  intensity  was 
sufficient  for  the  requirements,  other  defects  were  ap- 


102  C6e   Stage   in   tfte 

parent.  Perhaps  the  most  undesirable  and  serious  of 
all  was  the  placing  of  direct  lighting  units  within  the 
range  of  vision. 

The  introduction  of  what  is  known  as  the  "eye  com- 
fort system  of  indirect  illumination"  has  revolution- 
ized this  class  of  work.  The  principle  of  the  system 
is  to  throw  the  light  from  concealed  sources  upwards 
to  the  ceiling,  whence  it  is  reflected  to  the  working 
plane  considered.  By  the  use  of  special  reflectors  and 
equipment  the  light  is  thrown  exactly  where  desired, 
and  can  be  engineered  to  any  required  intensity.  No 
light  sources  whatsoever  are  visible  to  the  eye,  and 
as  the  light  is  spread  over  the  broad  plane  of  the  ceil- 
ing, there  is  no  trace  of  localized  light. 

For  moving  picture  theatres  this  system  adapts  it- 
self very  nicely.  A  peculiar  property  of  the  illumina- 
tion is  that  although  the  intensity  may  be  entirely 
sufficient  to  enable  patrons  to  enter,  find  their  seats, 
and  leave  without  any  trouble,  at  the  same  time  there 
is  absolutely  no  interference  with  the  clearness  of 
the  pictures  on  the  screen. 

The  National  X-Ray  Reflector  Company,  of  Chi- 
cago, are  the  originators  of  the  system  and  sole  manu- 
facturers of  equipment  which  will  produce  satisfactory 
results.  They  have  made  a  thorough  and  scientific 
study  of  all  lighting  problems  connected  with  theatre 
work  and  with  their  experience  are  unquestionably  in 
a  position  to  know  exactly  what  is  needed  for  any 
theatre. 


John  H.  Kliegl   and    Anton  T.  Kliegl,  owners  of 
the  Universal  Electric  Stage  Lighting  Company,  in- 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 103 

vented  the  first  practical  electric  stage  arc  lamp  about 
the  year  1896.  They  also  invented  various  stage  ef- 
fects in  the  early  productions  of  "The  Old  Homestead" 
and  also  in  "Jack  and  the  Bean  Stalk"  and  others.  In 
recent  years  stage  effects  were  made  by  them  for 
David  Belasco's  "Madam  Butterfly,"  "Under  Two 
Flags"  and  "Darling  of  the  Gods,"  also  for  the  "Wiz- 
ard of  Oz"  and  "Babes  in  Toyland." 

The  fire  in  the  Iroquois  Theatre  in  Chicago  brought 
about  a  complete  change  in  stage  lighting  apparatus, 
as  every  city  inspection  made  their  own  rules  about 
theatres.  Kliegl  Bros.'  new  improved  apparatus  and 
accessories  found  quick  favor  with  all  who  used  them, 
besides  being  adopted  and  approved  in  all  cities 
throughout  the  country,  on  account  of  their  superior- 
ity, durability  and  economy. 

In  the  construction  line,  Kliegl  Bros,  equipped  and 
installed  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  New  York. 
Here  for  the  first  time  they  placed  the  switchboard 
under  the  stage  floor  below  footlights.  This  was  a 
novelty  and  a  new  field  was  opened  by  them  for 
greater  success  in  stage  lighting.  Other  theatres  sup- 
plied by  them  are  the  Boston  Opera  House,  of  Boston, 
and  the  Philadelphia  Opera  House,  of  Philadelphia. 
They  are  the  manufacturers  of  the  Kliegl  stage  pocket, 
connectors,  border  and  footlights,  and  dozens  of  useful 
and  approved  devices. 

The  most  recent  developments  in  stage  lighting  is 
in  the  New  Theatre  (now  called  the  Century),  which 
was  furnished  by  Kliegl  Bros,  with  Kliegl  border  and 
footlights,  after  other  and  more  expensive  devices  had 
been  used  and  tried  out  for  a  season. 

While  working  on  the  electrical  effects  for  the  "Gar- 


104 C6e    §>tage    in    toe 

den  of  Allah"  production,  their  place  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  but  better  and  larger  quarters  were  secured. 
Their  facilities  for  furnishing  new  stage  effects  are 
unlimited,  as  shown  by  the  million  stars  and  the  sand- 
storm in  "The  Garden  of  Allah." 

Their  Actino  Flood  Light,  a  lighting  apparatus  for 
taking  moving  picture  films,  made  a  revolution  in  the 
taking  of  moving  picture  films. 


The  first  instrument  to  reproduce  sound  now  re- 
poses in  the  Patent  Museum  in  South  Kensington, 
London.  It  was  this  rough  apparatus,  with  a  hastily 
improvised  stylus  indenting  the  tin-foil  covering  of 
a  five-inch  cylinder,  that  repeated  before  an  awe- 
stricken  little  band  of  his  assistants,  the  first  verse  of 
the  old  nursery  rhyme,  "Mary  Had  a  Little  Lamb," 
spoken  into  it  by  Thomas  A.  Edison  in  1877,  an  event 
that  startled  the  civilized  world  and  suggested  possi- 
bilities of  which  one  half  have  not  as  yet  been 
realized. 

Surely  it  is  a  far  cry  from  the  crude  mechanism  of 
that  first  Edison  phonograph  to  the  perfected  instru- 
ment of  to-day.  At  first  considered  a  mechanical  toy, 
the  phonograph  developed  to  meet  the  demands  of  a 
music-loving  public,  has  risen  above  that  classification 
until  to-day  it  ranks  above  all  other  musical  instru- 
ments for  the  unlimited  variety  and  excellence  of  the 
entertainment  it  brings  into  the  home.  It  is  not  one 
musical  instrument,  but  all  musical  instruments  in 
one.  The  amount  of  pleasure  and  happiness  it  has 
contributed  to  the  nations  of  the  earth  is  beyond  com- 


Ctoentietft    Centurp 105 

putation  or  comprehension.  Millions  of  Edison  pho- 
nographs alone  have  been  distributed  to  all  corners  of 
the  globe,  while  the  other  talking  machine  companies 
that  have  sprung  up  in  this  and  other  countries  have 
swelled  the  grand  total  until  estimation  is  no  longer 
possible.  The  weekly  output  of  the  Edison  factories 
at  Orange,  N.  J.,  is  six  thousand  phonographs  and  up- 
wards of  one  million  records. 

As  an  evidence  of  its  present-day  musical  status  it 
is  only  necessary  to  say  that  Victor  Herbert,  the  emi- 
nent composer-conductor,  is  an  enthusiastic  advocate 
of  the  Edison  phonograph,  and  for  several  years 
has  occupied  the  post  of  musical  critic  at  the  Edison 
recording  studio  in  New  York  City,  passing  judgment 
upon  the  better  class  of  selections  recorded  and  as- 
sisting in  the  instrumentation  of  orchestras,  etc.,  while 
Johann  Strauss,  his  equally  famous  European  contem- 
porary, officiates  in  a  similar  capacity  at  the  Edison 
studio  in  Berlin.  The  Edison  catalogues  offer  abun- 
dant proof  of  the  pains  and  expense  incurred  in  se- 
curing the  world's  best  talent  for  Edison  records.  The 
voices  of  the  foremost  operatic  and  concert  singers, 
the  instrumental  offerings  of  the  virtuosi  of  all  lands, 
the  "headliners"  of  the  musical  comedy  and  vaudeville 
stage,  the  best  bands  and  orchestras  everywhere,  ob- 
tained regardless  of  expense  or  distance,  are  numbered 
in  their  pages. 

No  great  strides  have  been  made  in  recording  the 
voices  of  the  "stars"  of  the  dramatic  stage.  A  few 
of  the  great  ones  have  been  approached,  but  progress 
has  been  necessarily  slow,  partly  because  of  the  ridicu- 
lous impression  on  their  part  that  the  exploitation  of 
their  elocutionary  talent  through  the  medium  of  the 


106  _  Cfte    g)tage    in    tiie 

phonograph  would  tend  to  lower  their  standing  in 
the  dramatic  scale,  but  principally  because  talking  rec- 
ords are  least  in  demand  among  phonograph  owners. 
Sarah  Bernhardt,  of  all  the  stars  of  the  stage,  has  been 
the  most  importuned  in  this  respect.  She  has  con- 
sistently "turned  down"  the  most  tempting  offers  of 
the  various  companies,  convinced  that  her  voice  would 
not  receive  the  reproduction  it  deserved.  Won  over 
by  the  arguments  of  her  friends,  who  pointed  out  to 
her  that  the  preservation  of  that  matchless  voice  which 
has  thrilled  countless  thousands  during  her  remark- 
able career  was  a  debt  that  she  owed  to  posterity,  she 
recently  yielded  and  made  five  four-minute  records  of 
the  best-known  passages  in  five  of  her  most  successful 
dramas.  That  she  chose  the  Edison  phonograph  and 
records,  after  testing  the  reproducing  qualities  of  the 
other  instruments  on  the  market,  is  a  splendid  tribute 
to  the  wonderful  fidelity  and  naturalness  of  Edison 
reproduction. 


Portraiture  perspective  and  color  in  art  alone  appeal 
to  the  masses;  only  the  connoisseur  is  cognizant  of 
constructive  detail  and  technique.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  environment  of  dramatic  presentation. 
From  "front"  the  auditor  beholding  the  adequate 
stage  picture  and  setting,  suspects  little  or  nothing  of 
the  intricate  machinery  necessary  to  produce  the  en- 
sembled  scenic  effect. 

Time  was  when  the  stage  —  barren  of  the  least  sem- 
blance of  artificial  scenery  or  appropriate  properties  — 
depended  upon  declamation  and  elocutionary  effort  to 


JOHN    RICHARD    CLANCY 

Inventor. 


JOHN    H.    YOUNG 

Scenic   Artist. 


J.    F.    REMBUSCH 

Inventor    of    Mirror-Screen    (Motion 
Pictures). 


ROBERT    HOPE-JONES 

Inventor    of    the    Unit 

Orchestra. 


E-rigineeT. 


Mechanical   Geniuses   in    Their   Fields. 


Ctoentictfi    Centutp  107 

win  approval  and  hold  patronage.  The  Greek  stadium- 
theatre  devoid  of  all  accessories — save  draperies  and 
garlands — was  most  primitive  in  scenic  display,  re- 
quiring a  chorus  to  announce  the  period  and  location 
of  the  action.  Great  Britain's  famous  playhouses  in 
the  time  of  the  Bard  of  Avon  utilized  the  hand  sten- 
ciled placard  for  a  like  purpose,  and  up  to  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  even  the  so-styled  modern  management  de- 
pended upon  the  most  crude  and  cumbersome  methods 
to  effect  a  change  of  scene. 

As  late  as  1880  the  "gridiron"  of  an  up-to-date  the- 
atre was  installed  but  a  little  higher  than  the  "arch 
of  the  proscenium" — the  scenes  being  attached  to  a 
hand  manipulated  roller  on  barrel-shaped  counter- 
weighted  bases  of  the  log  type — cumbersome  and  un- 
sightly and  laborious  in  handling. 

Everything  in  the  scenic  equipment  consisted  of 
"drops"  and  revolving  wings  "masked  in"  with  flimsy 
borders,  primitive  and  crude.  The  first  advance  made 
beyond  this  primal  effort  in  "sets,"  heralded  progress  in 
stage  mechanics,  evolving  the  use  of  "grooves,"  where- 
by the  then  new-fashioned  "flats" — scenery  built  in 
sectional  form — could  be  utilized.  "Boxed  sets"  with 
ceilings  depicting  interiors  are  of  such  recent  date  that 
they  may  rightly  be  termed  quite  modern. 

Spectacles  and  heavy  productions,  such  as  now  are 
presented,  were  a  physical  impossibility  a  short  period 
ago,  because  of  the  lack  of  stage  mechanism  and  ma- 
chinery. During  the  past  century  the  individual  who  has 
won  success  in  any  line  of  business,  and  especially  in 
theatricals,  has  been  compelled  to  specialize  in  his 
calling.  The  vast  majority  of  people  who  become  in- 
terested in  the  profession  of  the  theatre  naturally  turn 


108 Cfte    ^tage    in    t&e 

to  the  artistic  or  financial  departments,  and  it  is  for 
this  reason  perhaps  more  than  another  that  so  few 
have  entered  the  field  of  theatrical  mechanics  and  a 
very  few  of  the  latter  have  achieved  success. 

John  Richard  Clancy  is  chief  among  the  very  few 
who  early  turned  his  attention  to  this  branch  of  the 
business  and  made  stage  mechanics  a  life  avocation 
and  special  enterprise.  Mr.  Clancy  was  born  at  Syra- 
cuse, New  York,  and  in  his  early  youth  filled  the  posi- 
tion of  treasurer  of  the  Grand  Opera  House,  and  as 
business  representative  of  the  manager,  Edward  Mat- 
son,  who  established  the  first  theatrical  circuit  of  cen- 
tral New  York. 

Through  an  innate  disposition  to  know  all  that  was 
possible  respecting  the  mechanical  department  and  its 
details,  Mr.  Clancy  quickly  realized  the  limitations  of 
the  stage  equipment  from  a  practical  point  of  view  and 
determined  upon  its  betterment.  In  1885  Mr.  Clancy 
abandoned  the  managerial  end  of  the  theatre  and  es- 
tablished himself  as  a  manufacturer  of  theatrical  hard- 
ware in  Syracuse,  and  with  the  assistance  of  an  office 
boy,  his  own  genius  and  devotion  to  the  enterprise  in 
hand  has  constantly  and  consistently  adhered  to  his 
chosen  branch  of  the  business. 

The  Clancy  theatrical  plant  from  its  inception  has 
been  successful,  growing  into  greater  importance  with 
the  years,  until  its  products  are  now  recognized  as  the 
standard.  This  is  probably  best  attested  by  the  fact 
that  all  of  the  theatres  built  in  Greater  New  York  dur- 
ing the  past  fifteen  years,  but  one  was  at  least  in 
part  equipped  with  Clancy  rigging,  while  all  but  four 
were  fitted  exclusively  with  goods  "made  in  Syracuse." 

In  1910  the  volume  of  business  had  become  so  great 


Ctoentietft    Centutg  _  109 

that  its  proprietor  found"  it  necessary  to  seek  new  quar- 
ters and  to  this  end  secured  architects  and  builders  to 
erect  a  new  plant  on  more  spacious  ground.  The  new 
plant  is  built  of  concrete  and  mill  construction;  on 
three  sides  of  a  court  all  on  the  ground  floor  and  has 
an  area  of  20,000  square  feet  with  light  and  ventila- 
tion on  all  sides.  Fifty  mechanics  and  department 
heads  are  employed,  all  under  the  personal  supervision 
of  the  owner.  Every  type  of  modern  stage  hardware 
is  produced  —  many  specials  and  patented  implements 
and  fixtures  pertaining  to  the  stage  emanate  from  the 
Clancy  factory.  The  inventor  of  appliances  in  the 
metal  line  adaptable  to  stage  usage  finds  ready  en- 
couragement and  a  liberal  patron  in  Mr.  Clancy.  A 
number  of  the  invention  of  Mr.  Claude  Hagen,  one  of 
the  foremost  of  American  stage  mechanics,  are  built 
and  distributed  from  the  Clancy  plant. 


•  In  Detroit  the  Charles  A.  Strelinger  Company  are 
solving  many  problems  for  the  Cinematographic  art. 

Owners  and  managers  of  moving  picture  theatres 
have  their  share  of  tribulation,  and  the  obtaining  of 
suitable  electric  current  is  not  the  least  of  their 
troubles. 

Alternating  current  is  not  well  suited  for  moving 
picture  work,  and  under  many  conditions  is  almost 
intolerable,  especially  in  the  lower  cycles,  with  its 
ceaseless  flicker,  as  well  as  in  the  large  number  of 
instances  in  which  the  regulation  is  poor. 

Direct  current  with  good  regulation,  at  the  proper 
voltage,  and  at  a  reasonable  price,  is  ideal,  but  almost 
never  obtainable. 


no Cfre    ^tage    in    tfte 

In  most  of  the  smaller  cities,  and  many  of  the  large 
ones  as  well,  the  station  equipment  is  inferior  or 
poorly  looked  after,  resulting  in  a  variation  of  from 
five  to  fifteen  per  cent,  in  the  voltage.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  those  stations  which  furnish  elec- 
trical energy  for  street  car  and  power  service. 

So  much  for  regulation.  As  to  proper  voltage,  a 
moving  picture  lamp  requires  only  forty  to  fifty  volts 
at  the  arc.  Allowing  for  resistance,  an  input  of  sixty 
volts  is  ample,  but  the  current  supplied  by  lighting 
companies  is  never  under  110,  and  from  that  up  to 
220  volts,  so  that  from  one-half  to  three-quarters  of 
the  current  paid  for  is  wasted  in  the  rheostat. 

As  to  price,  this  is  a  serious  question.  One  of 
the  principal  items  of  expense  of  a  picture  theatre 
is  the  electric  current.  The  attitude  of  lighting  com- 
panies in  most  towns,  both  small  and  large,  towards 
the  moving  picture  theatre  is  most  aggravating.  They 
figure,  with  much  shrewdness,  that  the  theatre  must 
have  electric  light,  and  usually  push  prices  up  to  the 
last  notch. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  find  a  theatre  using  1,000  to 
1,500  K.  W.  monthly,  charged  at  the  rate  of  twelve  to 
fifteen  cents  a  K.  W.,  while  an  auto  garage,  saloon  or 
butcher  shop  a  few  doors  away  is  paying  from  three  to 
five  cents  per  K.  W.  on  a  consumption  of  one-tenth 
as  much. 

In  very  many  of  the  smaller  towns,  a  serious  loss 
to  the  show  owner  lies  in  the  inability  to  get  current 
in  the  daytime,  which  cuts  into  his  possible  revenue 
to  the  extent  of  twenty  to  forty  per  cent. 

Revolting  against  these  conditions,  many  owners 
have  within  the  past  year  or  so  put  in  their  own 


SALO    ANSBACH 


FRANK    T.  MONTGOMERY 


WILLIAM  P.  READY 

Successful  Managers  in   Moving   Picture  Field 


GASOLINE   ENGINE  AND  GENERATOR  INVENTED 
BY  C.  A.  STRELINGER 


Ctoentieti)    Centutg 111 

electric  light  plant,  thus  cutting  the  cost  of  current 
materially;  but,  as  most  of  these  plants  consist  of 
the  ordinary  type  of  gas  engine,  the  regulation  is  not 
improved,  because  the  standard  type  of  gas  or  gas- 
oline engine  is  not  suitable  for  this  work,  and  will 
not  regulate  closely.  Besides,  these  are  usually  put 
out  with  dynamos  of  110  to  125  volts,  so  that  half 
of  the  current  is  wasted  in  the  arc  lamp. 

Again,  these  equipments,  consisting  of  a  gasoline 
engine  belted  to  a  dynamo,  require  a  great  deal  of 
floor  space,  which  is  not  always  convenient  or  ob- 
tainable. 

Further,  if  the  show  be  a  traveling  one,  the  standard 
engine  of  even  medium  capacity  weighs,  with  dynamo 
and  equipment,  from  2,500  to  6,000  pounds,  involving 
much  extra  labor  in  handling  on  cars,  or  expensive 
wagon  and  team  equipment. 

In  the  Brush  Electric  Lighting  Set,  all  the  diffi- 
culties referred  to  in  the  foregoing  are  overcome. 
The  Charles  A.  Strelinger  Company,  of  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan, are  the  makers  of  what  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
complete  isolated  electric  lighting  plant  ever  produced. 

TT     TT     Tr 

Contemporaneous  with  the  period  when  all  manu- 
facturers of  moving  picture  machines  were  making 
various  improvements,  the  object  in  view  being  to  pro- 
duce a  more  steady,  lifelike  and  flickerless  picture, 
Mr.  F.  J.  Rembusch,  of  Shelbyville,  Ind.,  the  inventor 
and  patentee  of  the  "mirror  screen,"  was  experiment- 
ing with  various  substances,  with  a  view  to  improving 
over  the  white  wall  or  curtain  on  which  moving  pic- 
tures were  projected.  Being  a  manufacturer  of  mir- 


112  Cfte^tageintfte 

rors  for  a  good  many  years,  and  also  thoroughly  un- 
derstanding the  principles  of  projection,  and  how  much 
glass  had  to  do  with  the  transmission  and  reflection  of 
light,  it  was  rather  natural  that  Mr.  Rembusch  should 
hit  on  the  plan  of  using  a  mirror  on  which  to  project 
moving  pictures. 

The  very  first  efforts  along  this  line  were  very  suc- 
cessful, but  those  to  whom  it  was  demonstrated,  when 
they  were  informed  that  the  price  of  these  screens 
would  be  $1,000  to  $2,000  each,  prophesied  at  once 
that  a  market  could  never  be  established  for  the  screens 
at  this  enormous  price.  For  several  months  nothing 
was  attemped  in  the  way  of  marketing  the  screen,  but 
experiments  were  continued  along  the  line  of  finding 
something  that  would  be  equally  as  good,  at  a  much 
less  cost.  This  was  found  impossible,  as  the  durability 
and  beautiful  effect  of  a  "mirror  screen"  could  not  in 
any  way  be  equalled. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  moving  picture 
theatres  were  growing  up  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  who  would  invest  in  anything,  providing  the 
article  was  meritorious,  no  matter  what  the  price 
would  be.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Motion  Picture 
Screen  Company  was  organized,  to  begin  the  manu- 
facture of  mirror  screens. 

It  was  found  that  by  producing  the  screens  on  a 
large  scale,  the  cost  could  be  cut  considerable.  Spe- 
cial machinery  and  advanced  methods  of  manufactur- 
ing were  introduced,  so  that  at  the  present  time,  any 
exhibitor  can  afford  to  buy  the  screen,  the  cost  being 
about  one-third  of  the  original  price.  The  "mirror 
screen"  is  to-day  so  well  known  it  is  hardly  worth 
going  over  its  many  virtues,  its  principal  attributes  are 


CTtocntietj)    Centurg 113 

in  producing  the  most  brilliant  pictures  with  a  given 
amount  of  light,  at  the  same  time  direct  rays  are 
reflected  so  as  to  not  hurt  the  eyes.  Its  durability  is 
another  feature,  being  practically  without  wear,  and 
with  ordinary  care  will  last  indefinitely.  Pictures 
produced  on  a  "mirror  screen"  have  a  roundness,  ster- 
eoscopicness  and  depth,  that  can  be  produced  in  no 
other  way. 

Screens  have  already  been  introduced  in  thirty-five 
states  of  the  Union,  and  in  Mexico  and  Canada,  and 
are  growing  more  in  favor  every  day. 

There  have  been  many  imitators  of  the  "mirror 
screen,"  some  of  which  are  better  than  the  white  wall, 
temporarily;  however,  none  of  these  imitators  have 
ever  equalled  the  "mirror  screen"  and  are  very  ob- 
jectionable because  they  are  not  durable  and  soon  dis- 
appoint the  exhibitor,  as  their  life  is  never  over  six 
weeks,  after  which  time  a  white  wall  is  much  more 
preferable. 

The  Motion  Picture  Screen  Company  also  manu- 
factures a  "transparent  screen"  for  use  in  theatres 
where  the  picture  is  projected  from  behind  the  stage, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  audience  is  on  one  side  of  the 
curtain  and  the  machine  on  the  other.  This  screen 
is  also  made  of  glass,  and  projects  the  most  beautiful 
picture  that  can  be  projected  in  this  way,  and,  like  the 
"mirror  screen,"  it  lights  up  the  house  so  that  the 
light  of  projection  alone  will  make  everything  in  the 
auditorium  visible.  In  fact,  the  only  real  daylight 
pictures,  or  lighted  house  pictures,  can  be  produced 
by  the  "mirror  screen"  or  "transparent  screen,"  as  the 
most  severe  tests  that  are  practical,  have  proved 
worthy. 


114  _  Cfte   g)tage   in    tfte 

Those  who  want  the  best  will,  as  usual,  insist  on 
same,  and  the  enormous  sales  since  the  glass  curtains 
were  introduced,  attest  to  the  favor  in  which  the  public 
holds  the  "mirror  screen"  and  the  "transparent  screen," 
and  the  integrity  of  the  Motion  Picture  Screen  Com- 
pany. 


In  any  adequate  treatment  of  the  various  phases  of 
the  subject  of  the  present-day  theatre,  a  consideration 
of  theatre  seating  is  of  interest  and  importance.  The 
designing  and  building  of  opera  chairs  as  exemplified 
in  the  seating  of  our  finer  metropolitan  playhouses,  has 
developed  into  a  truly  scientific  and  decorative  art. 

While  the  opera  chair  is  primarily  a  utility,  it  is 
one  that  readily  lends  itself  to  an  artistic  purpose.  A 
distinctive  feature  of  the  magnificence  of  furnishings 
of  the  modern  American  opera  houses  is  the  luxurious- 
ness  of  the  seating.  Because  of  large  possibilities  in 
design  and  finish  and  the  methods  of  upholstering, 
though  finding  some  limitation  in  the  general  form  of 
an  opera  chair,  the  seating  should  form  a  very  import- 
ant detail  in  the  general  decorative  scheme  of  the 
theatre. 

At  least  as  important  as  these  artistic  features,  how- 
ever, is  the  consideration  of  comfort.  To  enable  a 
large  audience  to  rest  at  ease  during  the  length  of  the 
play,  is  of  vital  importance.  In  the  design  and  con- 
struction of  the  opera  chair,  this  is  a  point  that  should 
demand  paramount  attention  and  the  principle  applies 
both  to  the  more  elegant  upholstered  chair  and  the 
simpler  type,  with  built-up  wood,  back  and  seat,  such 
as  is  commonly  used  in  the  smaller  houses,  moving 


AN  EXAMPLE  OF  MODERN  THEATRE  SEATING 

This  chair  built  for  new  Palace  Theatre  in  the  City  Hall  Square 
Building,  Chicago,  by  the  American  Seating  Company. 


Ctoentietft    Centtitg ii5 

picture  theatres  and  the  galleries  of  our  metropolitan 
opera  houses. 

To  secure  just  the  right  shaping  of  the  seat,  the 
most  comfortable  slope  and  height  of  back  and  the 
best  placing  of  the  arms,  are  problems  that  require 
careful  solution  by  the  manufacturer  with  every  new 
style  of  chair  designed. 

A  technical  difficulty  in  this  connection  is  encount- 
ered in  the  various  forms  of  floor  construction.  Some 
theatres  have  floors  that  slope  with  various  degrees 
of  incline ;  some  have  bowled  floors ;  others,  principally 
in  moving  picture  theatres,  are  straight. 

The  opera  chair  owes  its  present  general  form—- 
with folding  seat  and  interlocking  frame — to  the  neces- 
sity for  economy  of  space.  This  construction,  as  is 
obvious,  secures  the  most  compact  and  well  ordered 
arrangement,  with  each  chair  properly  placed  with 
reference  to  the  stage.  The  folding  feature  of  the  seat 
at  the  same  time  permits  ready  passage  to  or  from 
even  the  most  remote  locations. 

Cast  iron  has  until  recently  been  the  exclusive  ma- 
terial used  in  the  construction  of  chair  standards  or 
frame  parts.  Owing  to  the  fragile  character  of  cast 
iron,  however,  there  has  latterly  been  a  demand  for  a 
form  of  steel  construction  which  would  overcome  the 
difficulty.  Several  efforts  have  been  made  to  meet 
the  requirements  by  the  use  of  various  forms  of  angle 
and  strap  steel,  bent  to  shape,  and  assembled  with 
rivets  and  bolts,  and  while  some  of  these  chairs  dis- 
play considerable  ingenuity,  a  number  of  them  even 
now  being  in  actual  use,  they  have  failed  to  accorrv 
plish  the  required  results,  owing  to  certain  defects 
inherent  in  this  character  of  construction. 


116 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfre 

The  latest,  and,  it  is  believed,  the  finally  successful 
development  in  this  direction,  however,  has  been  the 
recent  production  by  the  American  Seating  Company 
of  an  original  construction,  which  is  based  on  what  can 
best  be  described  as  a  triangular  tube.  This  form  of 
construction  is  an  entire  departure  from  methods  and 
ideas  that  have  been  tried  in  the  past,  and  has  been 
scientifically  demonstrated  to  be  of  strongest  and  most 
stable  construction  known  and  at  the  same  time  in- 
suring the  minimum  of  weight. 

Steel  of  the  finest  suitable  quality  is  used  for  the 
purpose  and  is  worked  up  from  the  flat  sheet  by  cold 
rolling  with  specially  designed  machines.  The  steel 
parts  are  not  assembled  with  bolts  or  rivets  but  are 
united  in  one  by  electric  welding. 

What  is  known  as  the  "grand  opera  phonograph 
movement"  was  inaugurated  by  the  Columbia  Com- 
pany. Long  before  the  Carusos,  the  Boncis  and  the 
Sembrichs  were  attracted  to  the  encroachment  of  science 
and  artifice  on  their  realm,  this  company  was  wont  to 
import  grand  opera  artists  of  the  first  grade  from 
Rome,  Milan,  Naples  and  even  from  Buenos  Ayres. 
These  artists  came  hither,  too,  solely  for  the  purpose 
of  having  their  vocal  records  preserved;  no  operatic 
engagements  were  promised  or  expected,  and  many  of 
these  singers  have  never  been  heard  in  this  country  to 
this  day,  a  statement  that  should  indicate  the  scope 
and  pioneerism,  characterizing  their  early  efforts. 

It  may  be  only  a  coincidence,  but  the  popularity  of 
the  graphophone  came  almost  simultaneously  with 
the  solution  of  grand  opera  problems,  and  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  the  crowded  balconies  and  galleries 
in  our  opera  houses  are  greatly  due  to  a  new  public, 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 117 

created  through  hearing  the  voices  of  the  world's 
greatest  singers  in  their  own  homes.  This  is  so  true 
that  the  impresarios  are  reconciled  to  the  procedure 
of  the  artists  under  engagement  to  them  by  which  they 
add  materially  to  their  income  through  singing  for 
posterity. 

In  a  visit  to  two  of  the  largest  Summer  resorts 
on  the  Atlantic  Coast  the  writer  observed  that  the 
Columbia  Grafonola,  in  its  various  forms,  had  re- 
placed heretofore  costly  entertainments  in  the  leading 
hotels;  the  changed  conditions  in  this  respect  caused 
him  to  make  inquiry  of  the  proprietors  as  to  why 
the  custom  of  engaging  famous  singers  had  been 
abandoned. 

"We  resisted  the  temptation  to  reduce  our  expenses 
until  this  year,  when  we  found  that  the  advanced  state 
of  the  grafonola  and  the  advent  of  so  many  great 
singers  in  its  roster  was  simply  too  great  an  asset  not 
to  be  taken  advantage  of. 

"We  are  now  able  to  provide  in  a  single  program 
concerted  pieces  with  groups  of  stars  together  with 
great  orchestras,  bands,  celebrated  violinists,  pianists 
and  other  virtuosi,  all  without  even  taking  up  a  col- 
lection. Can  you  wonder  that  we  quit  spending  from 
fourteen  to  eighteen  hundred  dollars  a  season  for 
musical  talent  when  we  can  present  such  a  galaxy 
of  high-grade  music  at  an  outlay  of  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  Summer?  And  we 
have  our  'talent*  always  with  us,  no  disappointments! 
No  ghost  to  walk  (with  clock-like  regularity),  and, 
most  important  of  all,  if  our  guests  ask  to  hear  Mary 
Gardner,  or  Nordica,  or  Bonci,  we  do  not  have  to  enter 
upon  long-drawn-out  negotiations,  but  we  just  go  to 


118 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfre 

our  cabinet  and  bring  forth  these  thousand-dollar-a- 
night  songbirds  without  any  of  the  trials  and  tribu- 
lations we  have  heretofore  undergone  with  the  artists 
in  the  flesh !" 

Is  it  not  an  amazing  illustration  of  the  musical 
trend? 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  no 


CHAPTER  VII 

One  of  the  most  widely  known  men  in  the  moving 
picture  industry  is  the  veteran  producer  of  films  and 
manufacturer  of  moving  picture  machines,  Mr.  S. 
Lubin,  president  and  active  head  of  the  Lubin  Manu- 
facturing Company.  The  Lubin  Company's  large, 
model  studios,  at  Twentieth  Street  and  Indiana  Ave- 
nue, Philadelphia,  Pa.,  are  the  result  of  Mr.  Lubin's 
years  of  study  of  the  practical  requirements  of  the 
business  from  every  standpoint,  and  are  in  them- 
selves an  achievement  to  be  proud  of,  possessing 
unequalled  photographic  and  mechanical  departments 
complete  in  every  detail  of  equipment. 

Mr.  Lubin  was  in  the  optical  business  for  many 
years  in  Philadelphia,  and  took  a  great  interest  in  the 
moving  picture  industry  from  its  very  start.  He  built 
a  moving  picture  machine  for  himself  in  1896,  and 
the  first  picture  he  took  was  that  of  a  horse  eating 
hay,  which  was  followed  shortly  by  a  picture  of  an 
express  train  going  at  full  speed.  This  was  considered 
a  wonderful  film  at  that  time.  In  1898  he  took  pictures 
representing  the  Spanish-American  War,  for  which, 
of  course,  there  was  a  great  demand. 

Mr.  Lubin  underwent  many  trials  and  setbacks  in 
those  early  days  but,  believing  in  the  great  future 
of  the  business,  he  persevered,  meeting  every  exigency 
that  arose  with  his  characteristic  business  acumen. 

Aside  from  the  commercial  end  of  the  business  Mr. 


120 C6e   g)tage   in   tfte 

Lubin  has  been  for  a  long  time  interested  in  the  show- 
ing of  scientific  subjects,  and  has  expended  consider- 
able time  and  money  in  this  field,  especially  in  the 
interest  of  the  medical  fraternity. 

Mr.  Lubin  believes  that,  large  as  the  business  has 
grown,  it  has  before  it  a  vast  development  in  the 
continued  entertaining  and  educating  of  the  world  at 
large. 

Mr.  Lubin's  stock  companies  are  composed  of  some 
of  the  best  players  in  the  field  of  the  theatre,  May; 
Buckley  being  a  recent  engagement. 


World's  fairs  and  international  expositions  have 
inspired  many  ideas  from  which  the  world  at  large 
has  benefited  to  an  unlimited  extent.  An  illustration 
of  this  is  afforded  by  Lyman  H.  Howe's  "Travel  Fes- 
tival," which  has  now  become  a  national  institution 
not  only  among  regular  theatregoers  but  still  more 
among  those  to  whom  the  average  theatrical  offerings 
do  not  appeal  at  all.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  Mr. 
Howe's  successful  exhibitions  date  from  the  World's 
Fair  in  Chicago  in  1893.  The  idea — like  most  inven- 
tions— was  inspired  in  a  most  unexpected  manner. 
Mr.  Howe  was  one  of  the  several  million  visitors  to 
the  "big  show,"  but,  unlike  the  rest  of  the  several  mil- 
lion, he  was  immediately  attracted  by  an  exhibit  which 
to  others  seemed  insignificant.  It  was  a  nickel-in-the- 
slot  moving  picture  device.  Crude  as  it  was  it  inter- 
ested him  more  than  any  other  of  the  thousands  of  ex- 
hibits. It  fascinated  him,  and  he  lingered  about  the  ma- 
chine daily  and  became  its  best  patron.  Before  many 


Ctoentietft    Centtirp m 

weeks  passed  Mr.  Edison  directed  his  activities  to  con- 
structing a  projecting  mechanism.  Mr  Howe  watched 
its  progress  and  development  with  feverish  anxiety  and 
became  "America's  pioneer  moving  picture  exhibitor." 
But  not  satisfied  with  the  first  efforts  in  America,  he 
made  several  trips  to  France  and  England,  where  he 
conferred  with  inventors  like  Lumiere,  who  were 
striving  towards  the  same  great  goal — the  perfect  ani- 
mated picture.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Howe  was  also  con- 
stantly improving  not  only  the  mechanism  itself  but 
the  methods  and  manners  of  presenting  animated 
scenes  with  the  greatest  degree  of  realism.  What 
others  first  regarded  as  a  mere  curiosity,  a  plaything, 
Mr.  Howe  regarded  not  only  as  a  science  but  an  art 
as  well.  Having  mastered  the  mechanical  problems 
involved  as  well  as  the  technical  photographic  diffi- 
culties, he  applied  himself  to  obtaining  the  most  artistic 
results  from  both.  "The  wedding  of  art  and  science" 
was  his  slogan,  and  so,  after  constant  research  and 
painstaking  efforts,  he  presented  an  exhibition  to 
which  the  public  extended  its  most  liberal  patron- 
age from  the  very  beginning.  Mr.  Howe  struck  the 
true  note,  too,  in  the  nature  of  the  subjects  presented 
as  well  as  the  perfection  of  their  presentation.  His 
aim  from  the  outset  was  to  make  every  presentation  as 
educational  as  it  was  entertaining,  to  instruct  his  au- 
diences subtly  yet  surely  while  amusing  them.  How 
well  he  succeeded  is  amply  attested  by  the  prestige 
and  vogue  his  exhibitions  have  now  attained,  as  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  over  two  million  people  attend 
his  exhibitions  each  year.  By  exercising  the  utmost 
care  in  the  selection  of  every  subject,  then  displaying 
equally  fine  judgment  with  regard  to  its  position  in 


122  C6e    Stage    in    tfte 

the  program,  and  always  presenting  a  most  pleasing 
diversity  of  scenes,  he  grips  the  interest  of  every 
audience  as  few  footlight  favorites  do.  Then,  too,  he 
maintains  a  staff  of  photographers  who,  like  world- 
wide correspondents  of  a  big  daily  newspaper,  are 
always  on  the  alert  for  exclusive  scenes  of  events  of 
national  and  international  interest.  His  wide  experi- 
ence as  an  exhibitor  and  his  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  public's  desires,  has  enabled  him  to  make  each 
program  perfect  in  ensemble,  and  at  the  same  time 
so  varied  yet  dignified,  that  it  commands  not  only  the 
patronage  of  the  automobile  clientele  during  pro- 
longed engagements  each  year  in  the  leading  thea- 
tres of  all  the  big  cities,  but  he  also  attracts  that 
greater  public  whose  time  and  incomes  prevent  them 
from  ever  going  abroad  except  on  Mr.  Howe's  splen- 
did pictorial  excursions  to  distant  lands.  To  these  it  is 
a  liberal  education  in  itself  for  it  stimulates  the  mind, 
broadens  one's  mental  vision  and  combines  the  ar- 
tistic, historic,  and  pictorial  in  a  way  which  no  dra- 
matic productions  do. 


It  is  universally  conceded  that  Americans  are  the 
most  cosmopolitan  of  all  peoples.  This  enviable  state, 
which  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  great  American 
people  are  bound  with  the  ties  of  ancestry  to  the  old 
world,  reflects  the  reason  why  Americans  so  readily 
welcome  that  which  comes  to  them  from  across  the 
sea,  and  why,  unconsciously  perhaps,  they  recognize 
the  worth  of  the  many  so-called  foreign  productions 
which  they  enjoy  from  day  to  day. 


Ctoentfetft    Cetuutp 123 

The  triumphs  of  fine  sculpture,  painting,  poetry,  etc., 
etc.,  which  constitute  our  luxuries,  originated  in  the 
old  world,  the  parent  of  all  art.  And,  just  as  the  works 
of  art  are  welcomed  here,  so  are  the  great  artists  wel- 
comed, with  that  real  generosity  and  genuine  appre- 
ciation which  are  peculiar  attributes  of  the  American 
people. 

And  the  field  of  cinematography  is  no  exception. 
The  fact  that  a  film  is  of  foreign  manufacture  makes 
no  real  difference  to  the  frequenter  of  the  motion  pic- 
ture theatres,  as  a  most  casual,  or  the  most  careful 
inquiry  will  reveal.  So  long  as  a  picture  is  good — 
contains  a  well-constructed  plot,  carefully  and  logi- 
cally developed,  is  acted  with  feeling,  and  is  unim- 
peachable as  to  photography — it  will  find  its  place  in 
the  heart  of  the  people. 

Therefore,  Eclair  films  should  be  among  the  most 
popular  on  the  American  market,  for  they  represent 
and  comprise  all  that  is  "artistic"  in  every  phase  of 
the  expression.  In  the  first  place,  the  French  have 
long  been  noted  for  their  vivid  imagination,  and  for 
their  skill  as  story-tellers;  secondly,  France  and  the 
surrounding  territory  with  its  acres  upon  acres  of  ages- 
old  cultivation,  their  quaint  old  towns  and  artistic 
ruins  afford  a  background  for  motion  pictures  such 
as  cannot  be  procured  elsewhere;  then,  thirdly,  the 
Eclair  films  are  noted  for  their  beautiful  photography 
the  world  over.  And  the  fact  that  the  renowned  the- 
atres of  Paris  furnish  the  artists  who  pose  for  all 
Eclair  productions,  is  one  that  must  not  be  overlooked. 
Furthermore,  this  company  spares  no  pains,  nor  time, 
nor  money  to  secure  for  their  purposes  all  the  vast  re- 
sources which  the  country  affords,  for  the  producing 


124 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfre 

of  cinematographic  pictures  pre-eminently  interesting, 
beautiful  and  artistic. 


George  K.  Spoor,  the  founder  and  president  of  the 
Essanay  Film  Manufacturing  Co.,  was  born  in  High- 
land Park,  111.,  in  1871.  Although  he  did  not  start  out 
in  life  in  the  moving  picture  business,  as  a  boy  he  had 
natural  inclinations  and  ideas  which  pointed  in  that 
direction,  notwithstanding  his  unconsciousness  of 
the  fact. 

Once,  while  turning  cartwheels  in  a  meadow  near 
his  home,  the  thought  came  to  him  if  it  would  not  be 
possible  to  get  pictures  of  himself  as  he  performed 
the  boyish  stunt,  pictures  that  would  show  his  move- 
ments throughout  and  not  a  photograph  that  would 
show  merely  his  posture  in  one  position.  The  idea 
came  like  a  flash  and  was  not  recalled  until  many 
years  later,  when  he  became  acquainted  with  E.  H. 
Amet,  who  invented  the  magniscope. 

Mr.  Spoor  was  first  actively  engaged  in  the  theat- 
rical business,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  leased  the 
opera  house  in  Waukegan,  111.,  in  which  he  played 
traveling  combinations  for  four  years,  and  proved  a 
successful  manager.  It  was  while  managing  this  the- 
atre that  he  met  Mr.  Amet,  who  resided  in  Waukegan. 
In  1896  he  became  a  partner  of  Mr.  Amet,  furnishing 
him  financial  aid  in  the  completion  of  the  magniscope. 

In  1897,  Mr.  Spoor  severed  his  theatrical  connections 
and  took  up  moving  pictures  as  a  specialty,  working 
in  connection  with  his  partner,  Mr.  Amet.  His  asso- 
ciations with  the  latter  terminated  in  1898,  when  he 


POWERS    MOVING    PICTURE    COMPANY    OFF    FOR     THE 
COUNTRY    TO    TAKE    PICTURES 


AN    ECLAIR    MOVING    PICTURE   PLAY 


Ctoentieti)    Centtitg 125 

engaged  on  his  own  account  to  place  machines  and 
pictures  in  vaudeville  houses  and  parks  and  traveling 
organizations.  This  was  the  beginning  of  what  de- 
veloped later  into  the  Kinodrome  service,  which  now 
ramifies  the  entire  country. 

The  Kinodrome  was  built  by  D.  J.  Bell  and  was 
secured  by  Mr.  Spoor  in  1899.  It  was  so  rapidly 
placed  in  vaudeville  houses  throughout  the  country 
that  the  manufacture  of  the  machine  could  not  keep 
pace  with  the  demand. 

Early  in  1907  Mr.  Spoor  organized  the  Essanay  Film 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  associated  with  himself 
Mr.  G.  M.  Anderson,  the  progress  of  this  concern  being 
most  rapid,  and  in  a  short  time  the  Essanay  Company 
was  among  the  foremost  producing  firms  of  America, 
and  to-day  occupies  one  of  the  largest  and  most  mod- 
ern equipped  laboratories  in  America.  To-day  Mr. 
Spoor  enjoys  the  dual  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
very  earliest  men  of  America  to  embark  in  the  moving 
picture  industry,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the 
youngest  men  at  present  engaged  in  the  industry. 

Among  the  men  who  have  made  the  moving  picture 
the  amusement  of  the  masses,  Nicholas  Power  is  one 
the  foremost.  For  some  fourteen  years  the  name 
Power  has  been  recognized  as  the  hall  mark  of  high 
quality  on  all  the  forms  of  apparatus  for  projecting 
moving  pictures,  and  exhibitors  of  moving  pictures 
who  demand  the  highest  grade  of  projecting  apparatus 
have  almost  without  exception  used  Power's  apparatus 
for  many  years  past. 

Mr.  Power  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  America  to 
appreciate  the  fact  that  the  ultimate  popularity  of  the 
moving  picture  as  a  form  of  amusement  would  depend 


126 Cfte    g>tage    in    ttu 

upon  proper  projection,  and  he  began  in  the  late  nine- 
ties to  study  the  defects  in  the  moving  picture  machine 
of  that  day,  a  crude  piece  of  apparatus  projecting 
unsteady  and  ill-lighted  pictures,  which  flickered  and 
quivered  so  much  on  the  screen  that  only  the  strong- 
est eyes  could  watch  them  more  than  a  few  minutes 
without  great  fatigue. 

At  this  time  exhibitions  of  moving  pictures  were 
given  almost  exclusively  by  traveling  exhibitors,  hav- 
ing a  limited  supply  of  short  films  which  they  carried 
from  place  to  place. 

Mr.  Power's  first  efforts  were  directed  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  pictures  presented.  The  projection 
machines  designed  by  him  were  characterized  by  an 
accuracy  of  workmanship  and  care  in  construction 
hitherto  unknown  in  projection  apparatus.  The 
mechanism  for  imparting  intermittent  movement  of 
the  film  was  improved  with  respect  to  its  quickness 
of  operation  and  its  positiveness  of  action.  The  pic- 
tures were  made  steady  and  the  light  on  the  screen 
controlled  by  improved  forms  of  shutter,  which  in- 
creased the  illumination  and  greatly  reduced  the  un- 
pleasant flickering  and  quivering  of  the  pictures  on 
the  screen. 

The  cameragraph,  the  name  selected  by  Mr.  Power 
for  the  moving  picture  machine  turned  out  from  his 
factory,  soon  became  so  popular  with  exhibitors  de- 
manding the  highest  class  of  apparatus  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  keep  pace  with  his  orders. 

The  earlier  cameragraphs  were  designed  for  the 
traveling  exhibitor  to  whom  compact  construction  and 
light  weight  were  all  important,  and  in  these  features, 
as  well  as  in  excellence  of  projecting  qualities,  the  cam- 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 127 

eragraph  was  soon  recognized  as  the  leading  moving 
picture  machine. 

After  the  moving  picture  machine  had  reached  this 
stage  of  development  in  Mr.  Power's  hands,  the  oc- 
currence of  a  number  of  more  or  less  disastrous  fires 
in  connection  with  moving  picture  exhibitions,  led 
to  a  demand  for  the  equipment  of  moving  picture  ap- 
paratus with  safeguards  against  fire.  In  response  to 
this  demand,  Power's  cameragraph  was  immediately 
equipped  with  fireproof  film  magazines  patented  by 
Mr.  Power,  which  have  since  become  recognized  as 
standard  equipment  throughout  the  United  States. 
These  magazines  completely  enclose  both  the  supply 
of  the  film  and  the  take-up  reel  upon  which  the  film 
is  wound  after  passing  through  the  machine,  and  are 
provided  with  silently  acting  automatic  valves,  which 
extinguish  fire  instantly  when  a  flame  follows  the  in- 
flammable film  to  the  valve. 

Following  the  introduction  of  these  film  magazines 
came  a  demand  for  devices  to  prevent  ignition  of  the 
film  in  case  of  sudden  stoppage  of  the  moving  picture 
machine.  In  response  to  this  demand  Mr.  Power 
placed  on  the  cameragraph  a  type  of  automatic  fire 
shutter,  which  was  the  first  to  appear  on  an  American 
moving  picture  machine.  This  automatic  fire  shutter 
is  arranged  for  control  by  the  speed  with  which  the 
machine  is  operated,  and  automatically  exposes  the 
film  to  the  projecting  light  as  soon  as  the  film  is  travel- 
ing at  a  proper  rate  of  speed  for  projection.  As  long 
as  this  speed  is  maintained  the  film  is  exposed  to  the 
light,  but  the  light  is  immediately  cut  off  as  soon  as 
the  travel  of  the  film  becomes  too  slow  for  satisfactory 
projection. 


128  _  Cfre   S>tage    in    t&e 

These  features  of  construction  have  made  Power's 
cameragraph  the  safest  of  all  moving  picture  machines, 


Besides  being  a  member  of  the  original  body  of  in- 
dependent film  manufacturers,  the  Champion  Film  Co. 
stands  to-ctay  amongst  the  foremost  in  the  production 
of  well-liked  picture  plays. 

Their  first  effort  was  evinced  in  the  turning  out  of 
Western  motion  pictures,  of  which  they  released  one 
every  Wednesday,  but  their  output  of  this  product  be- 
ing inadequate  to  the  world-wide  demand  for 
"Champs,"  gave  birth  to  the  additional  release  on 
Mondays. 

This  new  Champion  day  brings  forth  a  specialty 
which  hitherto  has  been  untouched  by  any  other  pho- 
toplay manufacturer.  It  consists  of  a  weekly  release 
of  reproductions  of  military,  historical  events  and  in- 
cidents figuring  in  American  history. 

To  quote  a  few  historical  subjects  marketed  by  this 
concern  is  like  turning  through  the  pages  of  American 
history,  namely,  "With  Stonewall  Jackson,"  "Clark's 
Capture  of  Kaskaskia,"  and  "Gen.  Marion,  the  Swamp 
Fox."  This  is  proving  exceptionally  educational  to 
the  public,  and  the  results  obtained  are  naturally 
showing  favorably  towards  "Champs." 

Thus,  the  Champion  policy  is  unmistakably  a  very 
fine  one,  and  to  say  the  least,  their  exemplary  efforts 
will  be  generally  recognized  as  tending  to  promote  and 
elevate  the  release  of  educational  as  well  as  amusing 
motion  picture  films. 

$  «§»  * 


Ctoentietft    Centutg  129 

A  conservative  estimate  made  recently  resulted  in 
a  statement  that  at  least  ten  million  new  theatre-goers 
have  been  created  in  this  country  through  the  remark- 
able vogue  of  the  picture  theatre.  It  was  also  conceded 
that  in  the  last  five  years  no  less  than  ten  thousand 
theatres,  varying  in  seating  capacity  from  200  to  5,000, 
have  come  into  activity,  and  for  every  one  of  these 
since  discarded  at  least  two  regular  theatres  have  re- 
verted to  the  use  of  the  camera-man. 

Can  any  one  be  surprised  that  ten  million  persons 
who  had  never  seen  the  inside  of  a  playhouse  were  at- 
tracted to  the  spectacle  of  a  pretty  theatre  giving  va- 
ried and  often  educational  entertainment  at  prices 
within  the  reach  of  all? 

Of  this  ten  million  new  entertainment  seekers  prob- 
ably one-half  are  tempted  occasionally  to  witness  plays 
and  operas  in  regular  theatres,  and  this  is  a  revelation 
which  alone  explains  why  the  theatres  of  the  United 
States  have  been  able  to  withstand  the  tremendous 
competition  with  which  they  have  had  to  contend. 

A  manager  of  twenty-five  years'  experience  in  Strea- 
tor,  Illinois,  Mr.  J.  D.  Williams,  in  an  address  to  the 
Drama  League  at  Evanston,  111.,  gave  expression  to 
conditions  which  must  exist  in  every  "one  night  stand" 
country,  and  he  is  elsewhere  quoted  in  full. 

The  writer,  however,  has  endeavored  to  delve  deeper 
in  a  desire  to  discover  just  what  is  the  basic  condition 
and  to  what  causes  the  upheaval  may  be  attributed.  To 
begin  with,  the  moving  picture  theatre  has  brought 
into  the  amusement  calling  an  entirely  new  crop  of 
showmen,  and  these  are  not  of  the  calibre  which  stands 
still  and  waits  for  the  public  to  enter  its  theatres.  The 
new  generation  of  public  caterers  brought  into  the 


132  C&e   Stage    in    tbe 

as  these  will  command  serious  attention  from  the  press 
and  then  will  come  the  reward  to  such  deserving  art- 
ists, for  they  will  then  achieve  fame,  and  this  will 
lead  to  the  stars  of  cinematography,  just  as  we  have 
the  stars  of  the  stage.  It  has  got  to  come! 

Since  the  above  was  written  the  players  in  the  silent 
drama  are  advertised,  also  the  authors. 

A  film  evolved  by  the  Nestor  Company,  entitled  "In 
the  Commissioned  Ranks'*  was  impressive  because  of 
the  intensity  of  the  delineations  of  two  or  three  of  the 
players,  but  this  merely  disclosed  the  presence  of  a 
master,  for  whoever  "staged"  this  film  surely  needs 
no  instructions  in  his  profession.  The  audience  in  the 
picture  theatre,  despite  that  the  operator  was  wholly 
incompetent  and  the  musical  accompaniment  "fierce," 
was  held  spellbound. 

I  had  with  me  as  my  guest  on  this  trip  to  the  smaller 
theatres,  a  stage  director  whose  name  is  known  all 
over  the  world,  and  he  too  was  deeply  impressed.  We 
both  decided  that  the  reason  for  the  great  vogue  of 
these  places  of  amusement  is  a  wholly  constructive 
one — that  of  giving  a  public  a  great  deal  of  entertain- 
ment, with  attractive  environment,  and  at  prices  of 
admission  distinctly  inviting. 

The  advent  of  the  Kinemacolor  pictures,  and  the  fact 
that  the  best  theatres  of  this  country  are  now  available 
for  special  productions  of  an  elaborate  character, 
clearly  illustrates  the  remarkable  development  now 
going  on  in  the  motion  picture  industry  and  the  writer 
is  firm  in  his  belief  that  this  development  will  go  on 
until  the  regular  legitimate  theatres  of  the  highest 
grade  all  over  the  country  will  not  only  be  as  extensive- 
ly occupied  by  motion  pictures  as  by  players  in  the 


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Ctoentietft   ecnturg 133 

flesh,  but  the  scale  of  prices  for  seats  will  gradually  be- 
come adjusted  so  that  there  will  be  no  difference  noted 
as  between  the  two — which  means  that  the  day  of  the 
two-dollar-a-seat  motion  picture  is  near  at  hand. 

Such  a  prophecy  made  as  recently  as  a  year  ago 
would  have  been  ridiculed,  but  the  prophecies  of  a 
year  ago  are  all  fulfilled  to-day. 

The  motion  picture  has  made  greater  progress  in  the 
last  three  months  than  at  any  period  in  its  vogue,  and 
to  any  one  who  has  taken  the  trouble  to  investigate, 
the  outlook  must  appear  to  be  well  nigh  perfect. 

It  is  in  the  large  Summer  resorts  of  this  country  that 
one  should  look  for  indications  as  to  conditions  at  this 
time,  for  in  these  are  found  the  cosmopolitan  public. 

Previous  to  this  year  Asbury  Park  and  Ocean  Grove 
were  famous  for  the  great  musical  events  taking  place 
in  the  vast  auditorium  in  the  latter,  and  the  fine  array 
of  big  Broadway  attractions  at  the  Casino  in  the 
former.  But  all  this  has  changed  now  and  we  find 
that  the  most  compelling  attraction  at  the  Ocean  Grove 
auditorium  (which  seats  10,000)  this  year  has  been  the 
motion  pictures,  while  the  Casino  has  been  abandoned 
as  a  playhouse,  but  in  its  place  have  come  two  moving 
picture  resorts,  both  packed  to  the  doors  all  open 
hours. 

In  the  last  year,  greatly  through  the  public-spirited 
efforts  of  Mr.  Andrus,  of  the  Ocean  Grove  Association, 
a  superb  new  pier  has  arisen  in  the  latter  resort,  and 
with  commendable  foresight  Mr.  Andrus  has  erected 
here  the  most  concrete  and  artistic  moving  picture  the- 
atre that  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe  in  a  long 
time.  It  so  happened  that  in  looking  about  for  a  mana- 
ger to  whom  he  could  entrust  the  direction  of  this  es- 


134  C&e^tagetnt&e 

tablishment  Mr.  Andrus  recalled  that  Mr.  Salo  Ans- 
bach  had  made  a  success  of  a  similar  enterprise  in  Jer- 
sey City  on  property  owned  by  himself,  and  it  was  Mr. 
Ansbach's  record  as  lessee  of  the  Monticello  Theatre 
in  Jersey  City  that  induced  its  owner  to  choose  him 
as  the  lessee  and  director  of  the  new  Scenario  Theatre 
at  Ocean  Grove.  The  latter  is  the  most  perfectly  con- 
ducting cinematographic  resort  imaginable.  At  first  the 
admission  prices  were  five  and  ten  cents,  but  the  grade 
of  film  used  and  the  entire  conduct  of  the  house  quickly 
demanded  an  increase  to  fifteen  cents  at  night  and  ten 
cents  at  matinees.  The  house  seats  six  hundred.  An 
empty  seat  is  an  absolute  rarity,  yet  no  one  is  allowed 
to  stand.  Mr.  Ansbach  himself  acts  as  usher,  and  he 
is  constantly  on  the  alert  to  raise  the  level  of  his  of- 
ferings on  the  screen.  Rehearsals  of  the  films  take 
place  every  morning  and  an  orchestra  of  grand  opera 
musicians  is  utilized. 

It  is  here  and  at  other  resorts  of  a  similar  character 
that  the  intense  interest  in  the  motion  picture  at  this 
time  is  made  so  vividly  apparent.  The  public  simply 
passes  up  the  great  musical  events,  and  the  plays  direct 
from  Broadway  theatres,  but  stampedes  to  the  picture 
theatres,  until  all  of  these  have  been  seriously  thinking 
of  increasing  the  prices,  which  is  most  commendable, 
for  such  procedure  is  certain  to  be  accompanied  by  an 
equivalent  enhancement  in  the  entertainment  offered. 
Not  one  of  these  theatres  offers  a  single  vaudeville  act 
and  therein  lies  the  success.  Oh,  you  exhibitors !  When 
will  you  be  convinced  that  "straight  pictures"  should 
be  your  slogan? 

The  romantic  West  of  the  early  days  has  given  way 
to  the  advance  of  progress.  The  vast  cattle  trail  cov- 


Ctoetuieti)    Centutg 135 

cring  territory  from  British  America  on  the  north,  to 
Mexico  on  the  south,  from  the  Missouri  River  on  the 
east  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  once  covered  by  numerous 
herds  of  cattle  and  abounding  with  wild  game,  is  now 
being  cut  up  into  farms.  With  the  coming  of  the  farmer 
and  his  fences,  the  free  grass  and  free  water  of  former 
days  is  gone,  the  range  country  is  now  fenced  in  and 
the  cattle  industry  is  conducted  on  an  entirely  different 
basis. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  American  cowboys 
by  writers  such  as  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Emerson 
Hough  and  others,  and  marvelous  paintings  by  Fred- 
eric Remington  perpetuate  the  memory  of  these  pio- 
neers of  the  West.  It  remained  for  the  American  Film 
Manufacturing  Company  to  record  into  film  classic  the 
romantic  stories  of  these  pioneers.  Unrestrained  by 
social  usages,  the  pioneer  ranchmen  made  their  own 
laws,  and  judged  men  by  a  standard  of  their  own. 
They  loved  roving,  they  loved  freedom,  they  judged  by 
instinct,  and  many  an  unwritten  drama  of  love  and 
hate,  of  bitter  jealousy  and  intrigue  were  enacted  on 
the  old  cattle  trails. 

The  American  Film  Manufacturing  Company,  in  its 
policy  of  exploiting  the  American  cowboy,  re-enact, 
with  its  talented  company,  such  stories  as  it  is  able  to 
obtain,  pertaining  to  the  early  West,  teeming  with 
drama  and  comedy,  tragedy  and  pathos,  amid  the  vir- 
ginal scenery  and  backgrounds  of  the  range  country. 
Some  notable  pictures  released  by  this  company  are: 
"The  Squaw  and  the  Man,"  "In  the  Land  of  Cactus," 
"The  Mission  in  the  Desert,"  "The  Ranchman's  Ven- 
geance," "A  Cowboy's  Sacrifice,"  "The  Call  of  the 
Open  Range." 


136  Cfie   S>tage    in    tfte 

The  men  who  are  guiding  the  destinies  of  this 
praiseworthy  enterprise  are  especially  well  fitted  to 
this  work.  Mr.  S.  S.  Hutchinson  is  himself  a  West- 
erner. He  was  born  in  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  in  the 
early  sixties.  Cheyenne,  at  that  time,  was  a  frontier 
cowboy  town  and  the  centre  of  the  cattle  industry  of 
the  United  States.  The  Western  Indians  were,  for  the 
most  part,  unfettered  and  it  was  a  comparatively  com- 
mon occurrence  for  him  to  see  the  entire  garrison  man- 
ning Fort  Laramie,  which  was  located  close  to  Chey- 
enne, called  out  to  subdue  some  savage  squad  of  blood- 
thirsty redmen,  who  were  running  amuck  in  close 
vicinity  to  his  birthplace. 

In  addition  to  his  knowledge  of  the  West,  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson is  an  exceptionally  capable  and  shrewd  film 
man.  He  has  been  identified  with  the  motion  picture 
industry  virtually  since  its  inception.  For  a  period 
of  two  years  he  was  president  and  general  manager  of 
the  theatre  film  service  of  Chicago  and  San  Francisco. 
He  is  now,  and  has  been  since  its  organization,  the 
president  and  general  manager  of  the  H.  &  H.  Film 
Service,  as  well  as  president  of  the  American  Film 
Manufacturing  Co. 

*    +    * 

There  seems  to  be  a  considerable  conflict  of  opinion 
among  the  potent  figures  of  the  film  industry  as  to  the 
preference  the  patrons  of  the  photoplay  theatre  have 
for  comedy,  the  majority  stating  that  there  are  not 
enough  laughter-provoking  pictures. 

To  discuss  this  all-important  phase  of  the  moving 
picture,  one  must  naturally  turn  to  the  stage  for  data, 
in  order  that  such  a  problem  may  be  fairly  solved,  and 
there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  the  playgoers  of  mod- 


Ctoentietfr    Centutg 


ern  times  have  been  attracted  to  the  playhouse  through 
comedy  offerings,  as  they  are  to  see  and  hear  plays  and 
players,  and  songs  and  singers,  of  a  more  serious  char- 
acter. Moreover,  all  the  great  records  achieved  in  the 
amusement  field  indicate  a  trend  of  public  taste  for  the 
dramatic  rather  than  for  plays  of  a  farcical  order. 

"Ben  Hur"  has  been  before  the  public  for  twelve 
years;  it  has  made  a  million  for  the  producers,  and 
there  is  almost  a  total  lack  of  comedy  in  the  portrayal 
of  this  epochal  play.  The  most  potent  plays  at  the 
present  time  are  nearly  all  serious:  "The  Return  of 
Baron  de  Grimm,"  "Mme.  X,"  "The  Littlest  Rebel," 
"The  Music  Master,"  "The  Garden  of  Allah"  and  "The 
Price"  have  attracted  solely  for  tear-making  qualities. 

Closer  to  moving  picture  requirements,  a  study  of 
vaudeville  records  shows  that  the  most  enduring  play- 
lets were  such  offerings  as  "The  Littlest  Girl,"  "A 
Man  of  Honor,"  "A  Romance  of  the  Underworld," 
"Frederic  Lemaitre"  (in  which  Henry  Miller  en- 
thralled vaudeville  audiences),  and  only  a  few  days 
ago  Blanche  Walsh  held  an  audience  spellbound  in  a 
one-act  play  that  had  not  even  a  smile  in  it. 

"The  Woman,"  a  Belasco  success,  draws  large  au- 
diences without  a  star,  because  of  the  one  compelling 
serious  scene.  "A  Fool  There  Was"  is  considered  the 
best  "repeater"  of  modern  plays,  while  Mrs.  Leslie 
Carter  has  once  more  held  her  enormous  clientele 
steadfast  with  "Two  Women,"  a  play  without  a  single 
comedy  line. 

Shakespeare's  tragedies  always  draw;  his  comedies 
are  rarely  given. 

Comic  operas  have  always  spelled  bankruptcy  for 
the  managers  who  would  tempt  fate  with  them,  while 


138 Cfte   g>ta0e    in    tfte 

grand  opera  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  draws 
an  average  of  $70,000  a  week,  at  $6  a  chair. 

No  comic  song  ever  had  the  vogue  of  such  plain- 
tive ballads  as  "The  Last  Rose  of  Summer,"  "Home, 
Sweet  Home"  and  "After  the  Ball,"  all  tear-com- 
pelling. 

Even  pantomime  had  its  greatest  vogue  with  "Un 
Enfant  Prodigue,"  a  veritable  tragic  poem  without 
words. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  vogue  of  the  silent  drama 
is  what  it  is,  greatly,  because  such  worthy  film  pro- 
ducers as  the  Vitagraph,  Kalem,  Biograph,  Edison  and 
others  have  realized  that  to  cater  to  the  patronage 
most  desired,  they  must  emulate  the  methods  of  the 
highest  grade  of  producers  of  the  stage,  and  they  also 
are  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  technique  and  philoso- 
phy of  the  silent  drama  is  such  that  they  are  enabled 
to  score  even  greater  triumphs  than  the  Frohmans 
and  the  Klaw  and  Erlangers,  for  the  stage  has  its  lim- 
itations, whereas  the  motion  picture  play  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  verity  and  realism  of  nature's  own 
vast  resources. 

The  ever  increasing  demand  for  realism  in  motion 
pictures  has  prompted  leading  managers  to  instal 
sound  effect  outfits  in  their  theatres,  realizing  that  the 
picture  itself  was  not  strong  enough  to  hold  the  at- 
tention of  the  audience,  and  that  some  novelty  should 
be  introduced  to  relieve  the  monotony. 

A  prominent  exhibitor,  one  of  the  first  to  realize 
the  importance  of  sound  effects  with  motion  pictures, 
toured  the  country  with  his  corps  of  sound  effect 
men  and  left  thousands  in  each  city  talking  of  his 
wonderful  life-like  show.  He  was  hailed  as  the  David 


Ctoentieti)    Centutp 139 

Belasco  of  the  motion  picture  drama.  This  enterpris- 
ing gentleman  visited  the  Yerkes  laboratory  and  was 
so  interested  in  the  various  simple  mechanical  contri- 
vances which  meant  new  life  to  the  pictures  that  he 
immediately  selected  an  outfit,  which  has  since  been 
in  constant  use. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  pictures  for  the  sound  ef- 
fect operator  is  "Dante's  Inferno."  This  delicate  sub- 
ject requires  careful  handling  and  the  most  capable 
sound  effect  artist  that  could  be  secured,  was  sent 
to  Baltimore  for  the  opening  performance,  to  make  a 
test  of  sound  effects  with  pictures  of  this  character.  As 
a  result  of  this  demonstration  the  various  Dante  com- 
panies now  touring  this  country  and  Canada  have 
been  equipped  with  a  special  outfit,  which  the  produc- 
ers consider  indispensable  to  this  famous  work. 

Some  day,  perhaps,  there  may  be  a  manager  enter- 
prising enough  to  operate  a  theatre  in  New  York  City, 
devoted  exclusively  to  motion  pictures  with  a  corps  of 
trained  sound  effect  men,  an  outfit  of  effects  complete 
in  every  detail,  and  an  orchestra  capable  of  playing 
incidental  music  in  keeping  with  the  pictures.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  doubt  in  my  mind  that  such  a  house 
would  become  famous  in  a  short  time  and  play  to 
capacity  at  every  performance. 

Elbert  Hubbard,  the  sage  of  East  Aurora,  made  the 
statement  recently  that  there  is  nothing  tangible  in 
this  rapidly  moving  world  of  ours  but  energy.  Later, 
he  referred  to  his  old  friend,  William  N.  Selig,  as  en- 
ergy personified.  Thus  by  a  perfectly  logical  method 
of  reasoning  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  one  of 
the  few  tangible  assets  of  this  age  is  William  N.  Selig. 

The  moving  picture  aptly  termed  "the  college  of  the 


140  CI>e    Stage    in    t&e 

masses,"  has  attained  its  present  high  degree  of  per- 
fection largely  through  the  early  pioneerism  and  inde- 
fatigable energy  of  that  genius  of  picturedom,  William 
N.  Selig. 

Some  forty-five  years  ago,  in  a  modest  little  house  in 
Chicago,  William  Selig  first  saw  the  light  of  day. 
From  that  moment  he  began  to  do  things ;  as  the  boy 
grew  so  did  his  accomplishments.  His  boyhood 
schooldays  and  early  life  were  to  all  outside  appear- 
ances as  uneventful  and  quiet  as  the  little  four-walled 
room,  where  he  was  ever  wont  to  retire  that  he  might 
read,  study,  experiment  and  dream  without  interfer- 
ence. Of  an  artistic  and  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  at 
this  early  age,  he  became  interested  in  two  subjects — 
photography,  and  what  was  then  known  as  the  show 
business.  These  he  made  his  hobbies,  eagerly  absorb- 
ing everything  he  could  lay  his  hands  on  pertaining  to 
these  subjects. 

About  this  time,  the  "wanderlust"  gripped  young 
Selig,  who  was  chafing  under  the  restraint  of  four 
walls  and  sterile  streets.  So  he  packed  his  bag  and 
turned  towards  the  West. 

During  the  next  ten  years  he  traveled  much,  keep- 
ing his  eyes  open,  saying  little,  but  absorbing  quanti- 
ties of  such  knowledge  as  would  be  beneficial  to  him 
in  the  years  to  come,  for  Selig  ever  looked  to  the  fu- 
ture. His  experiences  in  the  West  were  many  and 
varied;  his  successes  were  few  and  his  failures  many. 
But  these  same  failures  were  merely  the  stepping 
stones  to  future  success.  Selig  never  gave  up,  never 
tired — never  grew  discouraged;  and  ever  and  always 
he  stuck  to  the  "show  business"  and  his  camera. 

In  1896  we  find  this  energetic  man  back  in  Chicago 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 141 

struggling  for  a  livelihood  in  a  small  room  on  an  ob- 
scure side  street.  This  was  the  humble  beginning  of 
what  is  now  probably  the  greatest  and  most  potent 
factor  in  the  world  of  motion  picture  production,  the 
Selig  Polyscope  Company. 

Those  were  days  of  arduous  labor,  unflagging  en- 
ergy and  great  hopes.  This  one  little  room  was  the 
home,  factory  and  office  of  Selig.  Here  he  manufac- 
tured lantern  slides  and  in  his  spare  time  conducted 
experiments  with  his  crude  motion  picture  camera. 
Many  were  the  trials  and  hardships  that  he  under- 
went while  perfecting  this  machine,  but,  blessed  with 
unbounded  faith  in  this  new  field,  he  soon  overcame 
such  obstacles  as  lay  in  his  path  and  began  making 
film. 

From  then  on,  the  rise  of  Selig  has  been  one  of  the 
marvels  of  modern  business.  Between  the  years  of 
1900  and  1907  the  Selig  Polyscope  Company  advanced 
by  leaps  and  bounds,  until  it  now  occupies  two  enor- 
mous manufactories  with  extensive  branch  offices  in  all 
the  larger  cities  of  the  country. 


142  Cl>e  dtage  ftt  tie 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Benjamin  Franklin  Keith,  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  is 
a  figure  of  the  theatre,  such  as  could  only  be  possible 
in  the  Twentieth  Century.  Progress  alone  could  create 
such  a  personality,  and  it  is  not  a  reflection  belittling 
his  achievements  to  declare  that  in  no  other  age  than 
the  present,  could  a  career  so  extraordinary  as  has  been 
his,  be  recorded. 

Mr.  Keith  was  the  first  individual  connected  with 
the  amusement  calling  to  create  a  line  of  endeavor 
wherein  the  millionaire  of  theatredom  came  into  being. 
Previous  to  his  advent  in  Boston,  less  than  three  de- 
cades ago,  such  men  as  P.  T.  Barnum,  James  T. 
Bailey,  operating  in  the  white-tented  field,  alone  had 
reached  the  distinction  of  being  enrolled  in  the  seven- 
figure  class. 

That  Mr.  Keith  created  a  lucrative  field,  when  he 
started  in  the  old  Gayety  Theatre  in  Boston  "the  con- 
tinuous performance,"  need  merely  be  recorded,  for 
this  fact  is  well  known.  But  the  manner  in  which  he 
built  up  a  vast  industry  and  elevated  a  once  despised 
stage  calling  to  the  highest  possible  status,  may  well 
be  portrayed  not  only  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  but 
also  for  the  unborn  generations,  for  here,  indeed,  have 
we  a  man  who  in  eighteen  years  has  caused  the  the- 
atrical map  to  be  entirely  changed,  has  shifted  the 
scenes  in  the  field  of  the  theatre  so  vigorously  and  so 
ingeniously,  that  he  has  caused  thousands  of  men  and 


I'.KX.I.  \\1IX     FRANKLIN    KEITH 


JOHN   J.    MURDOCK  MAURICE     GOODMAN 

Attorney 

Heads   of   the    United   Booking    Offices,    New    York    City    and    Their   Attorney 


Ctoentietft    Centurg        143 

women  and  their  families  to  be  enriched  for  all  time. 
And  this,  too,  let  it  be  said  once  more,  in  the  once 
despised  "vaudeville  calling!" 

Perhaps  the  most  beneficial  of  Mr.  Keith's  achieve- 
ments and  the  one  that  will  endear  his  name  for  all 
time  in  amusement  history  has  been  the  purification 
of  the  entertainment  itself.  He  has  been  uncompro- 
misable  in  his  policy  to  present  vaudeville  that  is  clean 
and  he  took  it  upon  himself  to  use  the  most  drastic 
methods  to  prevent  anything  suggestive  of  indecency 
from  finding  an  outlet  in  any  theatre  where  his  name 
was  a  trademark.  In  this  he  met  with  persistent  op- 
position, until  finally  the  day  came  when  all  recognized 
that  Mr.  Keith  had  dignified  his  calling,  and  even  those 
who  had  abused  him  for  his  prohibition  of  question- 
able acts,  and  for  his  cutting  out  speeches  and  pro- 
fanity, in  due  time  applauded  him  and  also  emulated 
him. 

To  attempt  to  give  a  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Keith 
is  not  in  my  province ;  moreover,  such  data  is  available 
already ;  but  to  recite  what  Mr.  Keith  has  achieved  in 
the  last  twenty-six  years  would  require  a  volume  in 
itself,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  some  writer  will  em- 
brace this  theme  in  the  near  future,  but  there  is  space 
here  only  to  state  that  when  Mr.  Keith  began  the  act- 
ive portion  of  his  career  in  the  early  eighties,  there 
were  not  more  than  two  score  of  players,  who  owned 
their  own  homes.  To-day  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  vau- 
devillians  possess  homes,  farms  or  landed  estates. 
Moreover,  the  actor  and  actress  from  the  legitimate 
stage,  through  Mr.  Keith's  brilliant  move  of  opening 
the  vaudeville  theatres  to  dramatic  stars,  have  also 
amassed  wealth ;  in  fact,  more  than  sixty-five  per  cent. 


144 Cfte   ^tagc    in    tfte 

of  the  dramatic  profession  now  make  the  excursion 
from  the  drama  to  vaudeville  and  back  to  the  regular 
theatres  with  grace  and  dignity! 

Mr.  Keith's  enterprise  has  resulted  in  salaries  mul- 
tiplying about  five  hundred  per  cent.  There  are  sev- 
eral millionaires  among  the  vaudeville  stars ;  there  are 
hundreds  of  men  and  women  in  this  field  possessing 
fortunes  in  excess  of  $100,000! 

Every  vaudeville  manager  affiliated  with  Mr.  Keith 
is  a  rich  man,  and  each  became  rich  as  a  result  of  the 
protection  which  such  an  affiliation  means.  Such  man- 
agers of  vaudeville  as  Michael  Shea  and  James  H. 
Moore  can  bear  testimony  to  this,  and  each  is  strongly 
entrenched  in  the  cities  where  he  has  theatres.  When 
the  pioneer  of  the  "continuous  performance"  began  his 
era  of  uplift,  things  were  in  such  a  precarious  condi- 
tion that  uncertainty  and  unreliability  prevailed  every- 
where. To-day  millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  the 
vaudeville  field,  and  a  half  dozen  associates  of  Mr. 
Keith  have  become  wealthy,  while  Mr.  Keith  himself 
owns  vaudeville  property  of  incalculable  worth. 

Perhaps  the  most  productive  of  Mr.  Keith's  achieve- 
ments and  the  one  having  had  the  greatest  moral  ef- 
fect was  that  which  he  evolved  almost  at  the  very  out- 
set of  his  vaudeville  activity,  that  of  erecting  the  superb 
theatre  in  Boston  which  bears  his  name  and  with  all  the 
great  advancement  since  in  architecture  and  science 
nothing  approaching  this  structure  has  ever  been 
realized. 

In  Mr.  Keith's  employ  are  a  dozen  men  who  have 
risen  to  affluence  as  a  result  of  their  long  service 
to  their  appreciative  employer,  and  each  of  these 
gentlemen  is  a  living  testimony  of  the  progress  em- 


RUTH    LITT 


Ctoentieti)    Centutg  _  145 

anating  from  the  great  endeavor  of  Brookline's  lead- 
ing citizen. 


The  first  theatrical  manager  to  amass  a  great  for- 
tune and  reach  the  millionaire  class  solely  as  a  re- 
sult of  his  own  labors  was  the  late  Jacob  Litt,  who 
began  his  active  career  in  the  box  office  of  the  Grand 
Opera  House  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.  While  yet  a  boy, 
and  while  occupying  a  salaried  position,  young  Litt 
devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  a  venture  of  his  own. 
He  was  the  first  manager  to  arrange  a  circuit  of  the- 
atres for  theatrical  combinations  in  the  Northwest, 
and  from  the  outset  he  prospered  amazingly. 

Always  of  a  saving  nature,  in  a  few  years  he  was 
in  a  position  wherein  his  cash  capital  allowed  him 
to  expand.  Everything  Jacob  Litt  touched  became 
gold.  Soon  he  dropped  his  small  town  circuit  and 
also  resigned  his  salaried  position,  but  we  next  heard 
of  his  leasing  theatres  in  Milwaukee,  St.  Paul,  Chicago 
and  Minneapolis.  All  became  veritable  mints;  then 
Mr.  Litt  became  a  producer  and  among  his  produc- 
tions, one  play,  "In  Old  Kentucky,"  made  him  a 
millionaire. 

The  energy  of  Jacob  Litt  was  really  his  undoing, 
for  although  a  domesticated  man  his  ambition  was 
so  great  that  he  could  not  let  go  even  after  he  had 
become  the  wonder  of  the  theatrical  world  as  a 
money  maker. 

It  was  thought  that  when  Mr.  Litt  took  the  lease 
of  the  Broadway  Theatre  in  New  York  that  he  would 
leave  to  his  subordinates  the  detail  work,  but  he  did 


146 C&e   ^tage   in   tfte 

not  do  this  until  nature  demanded  it  of  him,  and  then, 
alas!  it  was  too  late.  So  this,  perhaps  the  greatest 
managerial  genius  of  his  generation,  was  forced  to 
retire  absolutely  and  finally  to  end  his  days  in  great 
suffering  in  the  prime  of  life.  After  all,  his  loss  was 
greater  than  his  gain. 

Jacob  Litt  married  a  member  of  one  of  his  com- 
panies, who  as  Ruth  Litt  is  known  and  beloved  in 
the  social  and  club  world  of  to-day.  They  had  sev- 
eral children,  to  whom  the  father  was  deeply  de- 
voted. Mrs.  Litt,  aided  by  A.  T.  Dingwall,  who 
was  always  Mr.  Litt's  able  executive  and  most  de- 
voted companion,  conduct  the  vast  enterprises  of 
the  deceased  manager,  and  these  have  been  kept  up 
to  a  state  of  prosperity,  though  nothing  new  has 
been  undertaken  in  recent  years. 

It  may  be  said  of  Jacob  Litt  that  he  was  a  typical 
showman  of  that  era  of  the  theatre  when  success 
was  difficult  to  achieve,  and  one  may  only  conjec- 
ture what  would  have  been  his  goal  had  he  been 
permitted  to  live  man's  allotted  period. 

*  *  *  ' 

"I  certainly  answer  this  question  with  yes,"  said 
Mr.  Louis  Martin,  the  well-known  Broadway  res- 
tauranteur,  when  asked  if  his  new  venture,  "The 
Cabaret,"  was  a  result  of  his  observations,  that  pat- 
rons of  restaurants  and  hotels  are  more  and  more 
asking  for  entertainment  during  luncheon,  afternoon 
tea,  dinner  and  supper. 

"Americans  are  a  very  hard-working  nation.  Men 
and  women  are  busy  all  day — men  making  money 
so  that  women  can  spend  it.  The  only  recreation 
the  American  has,  is  in  the  evening,  when  dinner, 


Ctocntietf)    Centutg  _  i£T 

and  after  theatre  supper,  will  give  him  from  four 
to  five  hours  of  pleasure,  after  eight  to  ten  hours  of 
hard  work.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  these 
four  to  five  hours  of  entertainment  the  American 
wants  all  he  can  get.  He  is  fond  of  good  music, 
very  forid  of  dancing,  and  last,  but  not  least,  enjoys 
a  well  prepared  dinner  or  supper. 

"You  cannot  please  every  single  patron,  because 
you  will  find  some  objection  to  the  general  rule;  for 
instance,  people  who  prefer  to  enjoy  their  meal  even 
in  a  restaurant  or  hotel  quietly,  and  do  not  care  fotr 
music,  or  at  least  for  noise-making  orchestras,  and 
that  is  the  reason  why,  during  dinner  time,  I  have  a 
symphony  orchestra,  which  plays  very  softly,  so  as 
to  be  a  pleasure  to  the  ear  without  interfering  with 
conversation. 

"For  after  theatre  a  more  elaborate  entertainment, 
given  in  an  absolutely  decent  and  exclusive  manner, 
will  please  the  patrons,  for  those  who  go  to  supper 
are  generally  inclined  to  finish  the  evening  in  a  gay 
atmosphere,  especially  if  gayety  remains  what  it 
should  be,  and  does  not  for  one  single  instant  become  a 
disturbing  factor. 

"Under  such  conditions  the  Cabaret  will  become  all 
over  the  country  what  it  was  at  the  start,  in  Paris, 
when  Jules  Jouye,  Delmet  and  others  founded  the 
'Cabaret  DCS  Chansonniers,'  some  twenty  years  ago." 


To  form  a  correct  estimate  of  Alexander  Pantages, 
the  man,  it  is  necessary  to  review  his  achievements  and 
successes.  Alexander  Pantages,  as  nearly  everybody 


148 Cfte    S>tage    in    toe 

knows,  is  the  president,  general  manager  and  holder 
of  the  financial  and  personal  reins  of  the  Pantages 
Theatre  Company,  Incorporated,  and  the  Pantages 
Vaudeville  Circuit. 

From  a  very  modest  beginning  as  proprietor  and 
manager  of  the  old  Crystal  Theatre,  in  Seattle,  to  the 
controlling  factor,  financial  and  otherwise,  of  several 
millions  of  dollars  worth  of  theatrical  property,  is  the 
single-handed  accomplishment  of  the  man  since  the 
season  of  1902-03. 

It  is  doubtful  whether,  in  the  history  of  the  amuse- 
ment business  in  this  country,  there  is  another  man- 
ager who  has  vaulted  himself  into  the  millionaire- 
owner  class  with  such  spectacular  rapidity. 

When  Mr.  Pantages  entered  the  theatrical  field  he 
took  over  a  dry  goods  store  on  Second  Avenue  in 
Seattle,  bought  the  necessary  surrounding  leases  and 
converted  the  property  into  a  commodious  playhouse. 
The  Crystal  became  immediately  popular  and  the  time 
soon  came  when  Mr.  Pantages  was  forced  to  seek 
larger  quarters  and  the  first  Pantages  Theatre  was 
built.  The  name  of  Pantages,  euphonious  and  easily 
remembered,  was  a  good  one  and  it  has  been  the 
slogan  for  good  vaudeville  ever  since. 

Next  followed  the  taking  over  of  a  store  building  in 
Tacoma  and  its  evolution  into  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Pantages  Theatre.  Like  the  stepping-stone  house 
in  Seattle,  this  theatre  was  first  known  as  the  Crystal. 
Next  came  the  Crystal  in  Portland,  later  known  as 
the  Pantages,  but  Mr.  Pantages  has  since  built  in  that 
city  a  handsome  seven-story  theatre  and  office-building 
to  house  his  vaudeville,  while  the  present  one,  like 
his  very  popular  Seattle  stock  house,  will  be  named 


Ctoentfetf)    Centurp  149 

after  Mrs.  Pantages  and  known  as  the  Lois.  Here  the 
Pantages  brand  of  "stock"  will  be  played. 

Jumping  to  Vancouver,  B.  C.,  Mr.  Pantages  built 
and  opened  the  next  Pantages  Theatre,  and  the  crowds 
that  surge  into  this  house  every  day  in  the  year  are  the 
best  testimonial  of  its  popularity. 

Over  at  Spokane,  the  metropolis  of  the  great  Inland 
Empire  of  Washington  and  Idaho,  Mr.  Pantages 
erected  his  next  successful  theatre. 

Not  being  satisfied  with  his  affiliations  in  the  South, 
Mr.  Pantages  invaded  California,  where  he  purchased 
the  Alisky  Theatre  at  Sacramento.  The  Alisky  was 
immediately  renamed  Pantages  and  has  remained  as 
such  ever  since.  Then  he  established  himself  along  the 
line  into  San  Francisco,  where  he  acquired  the  Empire 
Theatre  from  the  Western  States  Vaudeville  Associa- 
tion, and  later  bought  the  entire  interests  of  that  or- 
ganization. This  move  gave  Mr.  Pantages  control  of 
the  association's  theatres  in  Denver,  Pueblo  and  St. 
Joseph,  Mo.,  but  in  order  to  complete  the  circuit  in 
the  South  he  built  the  beautiful  four-story  Pantages 
Theatre  and  office-building  in  the  best  location  in  Los 
Angeles. 

In  May,  of  1911,  Mr.  Pantages  completed  the  pur- 
chase of  one  of  the  most  valuable  sites  in  San  Francisco 
and  a  handsome  steel  and  concrete  theatre  and  office- 
building  is  the  result.  This  structure  is  seven  stories 
in  height  and  of  the  most  costly  construction  and  mag- 
nificent architecture. 

With  a  view  to  the  erection  of  another  large  and 
handsome  theatre  and  office-building  in  Seattle,  Mr. 
Pantages  has  already  purchased  the  old  Plymouth 
church  property,  at  Third  Avenue  and  University 


150  _  Cfte    ^>tage    in    tfte 

Street.  This  is  readily  conceded  to  be  one  of  the 
most  valuable  building  sites  in  the  entire  Northwest. 
The  old  church  —  one  of  Seattle's  landmarks  —  will  soon 
be  razed  and  thereon  will  be  erected  a  fourteen-story 
structure  which  will  not  be  surpassed  by  anything  of 
its  kind  in  the  West. 

Alexander  Pantages  is  still  a  young  man,  yet  on  the 
better  side  of  forty.  Every  bit  of  business  in  every  de- 
partment is  transacted  under  his  supervision.  A  truly 
wonderful  memory,  a  broad  grasp  of  detail,  a  keen 
insight  into  human  nature  and  the  ability  to  push  to 
completion  whatever  he  undertakes  with  almost  light- 
ning-like speed,  are  among  the  personal  attributes 
which  have  been  chiefly  responsible  for  Mr.  Pantages' 
rapid  rise  in  the  theatrical  world. 

Mr.  Pantages  has  representatives  in  New  York,  Chi- 
cago, Denver  and  San  Francisco,  together  with  a  Euro- 
pean agent,  (Richard  Pitrot),  who  makes  annual  tours 
abroad  in  search  of  foreign  novelties  and  specialties. 

A  share  of  Mr.  Pantages'  great  success  may  well  be 
credited  to  Louis  Pincus,  a  young  man  who  began 
as  an  office-boy  in  the  offices  of  William  Morris,  and 
who  has  steadily  risen  to  a  position  of  importance.  Mr. 
Pincus  has  ingratiated  himself  with  managers  and 
players  alike  and  he  has  solved  for  his  employer  many 
difficult  problems,  thus  accounting  for  the  permanency 
of  his  position  as  New  York  representative  of  the  big 
circuit. 


The  United  Booking  Offices  with  all  their  vast  out- 
put, is  really  a  one-man  affair;  others  may  profit,  and 
the  number  is  legion,  yet  E.  F.  Albee  is  the  one  living 


Ctoentictt)    Ccntutp 151 

and  breathing  exponent  of  its  very  existence,  excepting 
Mr.  Keith  himself.  Albee  is  the  only  important  figure 
now  identified  with  this  concern  that  has  remained  con- 
stant to  the  original  principles,  established  at  the  out- 
set. 

F.  F.  Proctor  has  been  in  and  out  of  the  camp,  and 
as  recently  as  a  few  months  ago,  was  involved  in  liti- 
gation with  Mr.  Keith  and  also  with  Mr.  Albee. 

Percy  Williams,  in  1900,  when  the  first  association 
was  formed,  was  its  bitterest  opponent,  and  there  can 
be  no  more  interesting  reading  to-day  than  a  reference 
to  Mr.  Williams'  advertisements  in  the  theatrical 
papers  in  the  Summer  of  1900,  when  he  put  forth  his 
famous  "This  is  a  bad  year  for  trusts"  proclamation ! 

M.  Shea,  J.  H.  Moore,  Harry  Davis,  S.  Z.  Poli,  Oscar 
Hammerstein,  Hyde  and  Behman  and  others  at  some 
time  have  broken  away  from  their  colleagues,  but 
Albee  has  lived  to  see  every  fugitive  return  while  he 
has  also  witnessed  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  policy. 

In  twenty  years  this  man  Albee  has  lived  a  mana- 
gerial life,  such  as  has  been  survived  by  no  individual 
operating  on  the  business  side  of  the  amusement  call- 
ing. When  he  came  to  New  York,  he  attracted  atten- 
tion by  his  ability  in  beautifying  and  reviving  an  old 
theatre.  He  was  the  genius  who  constructed  the  fam- 
ous Keith's  Boston  house,  whose  beauty  of  decoration 
and  adornment  traveled  all  over  the  world,  and  it  was 
the  influence  of  this  handsome  theatre  that  practically 
made  vaudeville  what  it  is  to-day.  Mr.  Albee  was  in 
our  midst  for  several  years  before  his  personality  be- 
gan to  predominate ;  at  the  time  of  his  advent,  the  men 
now  prospering  in  vaudeville  circles,  were  practically 
unknown. 


152  Cfte    ^tage    in    tfte 

Every  manager  owning  a  franchise  from  the  United 
Booking  Offices,  is  a  man  of  wealth,  and  the  prosper- 
ous state  they  are  in,  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  pro- 
tection a  "United"  franchise  gives,  for  one  may  not 
find  similar  success  achieved  by  those  who  have  seen 
fit  to  remain  aloof  from  this  combine;  in  fact  there  is 
not  a  single  instance  recordable,  where  a  competitor 
has  survived.  Slowly  but  surely  the  invincible  Albee 
has  seen  them  fall;  some  have  lasted  longer  than 
others;  but  all  have  been  content  to  either  succumb 
to  the  sway  of  this  prince  of  organizers,  or  else  have 
been  confronted  with  disaster. 

Albee's  great  triumph  would  have  come  sooner  than 
it  did,  but  for  William  Morris,  who  for  twelve  years 
held  out,  but  he,  too,  is  now  gathered  in,  and  at  the 
time  of  this  writing  the  entire  vaudeville  industry  is 
practically  under  his  guidance. 

In  the  last  five  years,  greatly  through  the  evolution 
in  the  moving  picture  field,  Albee's  power  as  well  as 
his  possessions,  have  grown  manifold.  He  has  been 
just  as  wise  and  discerning  in  his  grasp  of  the  lower 
grade  of  vaudeville,  as  he  has  been  in  solidifying  the 
higher  grade,  until  he  has  assembled  all  of  the  powerful 
interests  in  the  newer  field  under  his  banner.  Truly, 
have  we  not  here  not  only  a  great  showman,  as  we 
understand  the  term,  but  the  greatest  general  for  or- 
ganization and  equipment  of  his  day? 

How  many  men — and  a  few  women — Albee  has 
helped  to  amass  wealth  in  the  propitious  field  over 
which  he  reigns  like  a  monarch,  will  perhaps  never 
be  known,  but  there  are  at  least  five  hundred  agents, 
sub-agents  and  "near"-agents,  located  in  or  about  the 
Putnam  Building  whose  very  existence  depends  on 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 153 

the  manner  in  which  Albee  regards  them.  I  have  heard 
a  story  that  in  a  large  room  set  apart  for  these  agents 
by  Albee,  they  are  wont  to  congregate  at  the  noon 
hour,  and  that  as  soon  as  word  goes  forth  that  the  great 
potentate  has  reached  his  desk,  the  body  of  booking 
agents  begin  to  sing  "Nearer  my  God  to  Thee!" 

Jesse  Lasky,  who,  with  Henry  B.  Harris,  built  the 
Folies  Bergere,  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  what  Al- 
bee's  favor  means.  Lasky  came  into  the  vaudeville  field 
less  than  ten  years  ago ;  he  had  charge  of  the  bookings 
of  Leon  Herrmann,  a  nephew  of  Herrmann  the  Great. 
Lasky  did  not  operate  exactly  as  agents  did,  in  fact  he 
gradually  became  an  important  producer,  until  he 
owned  and  controlled  a  half  dozen  productions,  each 
more  important  and  costlier  than  the  other.  At  all 
times  his  fate  depended  on  Albee,  who  at  a  moment's 
notice  could  abruptly  terminate  Lasky's  vogue  as  a 
producer.  Here  is  perhaps  the  only  instance  where 
Albee  has  helped  to  create  "opposition"  to  himself, 
for  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that  the  shrewd  magnate 
regarded  the  Folies  Bergere  with  any  great  joy,  but 
that  he  will  find  a  way  to  bring  the  music  halls,  such 
as  the  Winter  Garden  into  his  fold,  none  who  knows 
him  and  his  power  for  amalgamation  will  doubt. 

One  of  Albee's  greatest  traits  is  his  ability  to  with- 
hold publicity  while  any  of  his  schemes  are  in  an  em- 
bryo state.  Not  one  word  is  ever  printed  that  would 
suggest  that  a  deal  of  any  kind  is  on  until  it  has  been 
actually  consummated,  and  then  only  the  bare  facts, 
without  any  display  or  show  that  an  unusual  thing  has 
been  done.  Important  transactions  like  the  joining  of 
the  Keith  forces  by  F.  F.  Proctor,  Percy  G.  Williams, 
S.  Z.  Poli  and  other  important  managers,  were  passed 


154  CJje    Stage    in    toe 

off  as  everyday  occurrences.  It  is  this  ability  to  keep 
out  of  print  that  has  made  Albee  what  he  is ! 

The  vaudeville  world  woke  up  one  morning  to  learn 
from  the  public  press  that  the  Keith  interests  had 
bought  a  chain  of  Western  theatres,  in  fact,  had  be- 
come partners  of  the  owners  of  the  Orpheum  circuit 
without  the  latter  even  knowing  it.  The  significance 
of  this  transaction  was  of  the  greatest,  and  the  eff ect 
was  of  world-wide  proportions. 

But  it  was  in  securing  an  option  on  the  Victoria 
Theatre,  the  Hammerstein  vaudeville  house  at  Forty- 
second  Street  and  Broadway,  that  Albee  surpassed 
himself.  The  papers  were  full  of  the  negotiations  be- 
tween Martin  Beck  and  Hammerstein ;  not  a  word  had 
appeared  that  would  suggest  even  a  possibility  of  the 
Keith  people  wanting  the  great  gold  mine,  but  Albee 
with  his  customary  ingenuity,  and  again  with  the  most 
profound  secrecy,  secured  an  option,  (no  one  can  buy 
the  Victoria  Theatre  unless  Albee  says  he  himself  does 
not  want  it),  and  the  first  news  any  one  had  of  the 
momentous  deal,  came  into  the  press  after  the  papers 
were  signed.  People'  who  think  the  modern  theatrical 
manager  is  an  "accident"  will  do  well  to  qualify  their 
impressions,  at  least  as  far  as  Edward  F.  Albee  is 
concerned. 

The  writer  has  devoted  considerable  space  to  the 
leading  figure  in  the  vaudeville  world,  for  the  reason 
that  in  the  previous  volumes  Mr.  Albee  has  figured 
solely  in  the  author's  reminiscences,  and  these  did  not 
project  the  gentleman  in  a  favorable  light  as  a  man, 
but  in  the  present  volume  the  writer  is  discussing  the 
manager,  and  without  reference  to  personal  matters. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 155 

In  all  music  there  is  to-day  no  more  burning  ques- 
tion than  that  which  centres  around  opera  in 
English  and  by  American  composers.  Discussion  has 
been  rife  for  over  fifty  years  regarding  the  anomaly 
which  lies  in  the  fact  that  ours  is  the  only  country 
whose  citizens  do  not  insist  on  having  their  grand 
opera  in  the  vernacular  of  the  land  they  live  in  and  call 
their  own.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  set 
forth  the  reasons  for  such  a  strange  circumstance,  be- 
cause just  at  this  time  a  number  of  influential  persons 
in  musical  circles  have  banded  themselves  together  for 
the  purpose  of  accomplishing  reform  in  that  very  direc- 
tion, and  in  consequence  our  important  newspapers  are 
devoting  column  upon  column  to  the  topic  and  have 
made  their  readers  familiar  with  every  phase  of  the 
subject.  But  there  is  one  detail  which  most  of  the 
commentators  seem  to  overlook,  and  upon  it  appears 
to  be  based  the  entire  fabric  of  American  opera  and  its 
feasibility  in  the  future.  The  oversight  is  in  the  na- 
ture of  a  misconception  and  a  confusing  of  cause  and 
effect.  Most  of  the  musical  critics  say  that  the  Ameri- 
can opera-houses  and  the  American  music-publishers 
cannot  put  forth  American  music,  because  there  is 
none.  The  proposition  in  reality  shapes  itself  the  other 
way.  The  musical  critics  and  the  public  do  not  be- 
come acquainted  with  American  music  for  the  simple 
reason  that  most  of  the  American  opera-managers  and 
American  music-publishers  do  not  give  it  a  chance  to 
be  heard.  The  managers  will  not  accept  it  and  the 
publishers  will  not  issue  it.  Their  attitude  is  caused 
by,  one-third  convenience,  one-third  conservatism  and 
one-third  cowardice.  The  convenience  springs  from 
the  fact  that  they  are  finding  a  ready  market  here  for 


156 C6e    S>tage    in    tt)e 

foreign  musical  wares  and  making  money  therefrom. 
The  conservatism  cautions  them  not  to  jump  into  any- 
thing new  too  quickly  when  the  old  is  doing  good  ser- 
vice. The  cowardice  is  lack  of  patriotism,  and  utter 
contempt  for  American  music  and  musicians,  simply 
and  solely  because  they  are  American.  If  the  prophet 
is  without  honor  in  his  own  country,  the  reason  for 
the  inappreciation  usually  may  be  sought  in  the  igno- 
rance and  parochialism  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

The  first  sign  of  a  change  came  when  Leo  Feist,  the 
progressive  music-publisher,  confided  to  all  his  friends 
in  operatic  circles  and  out  of  it,  that  he  had  determined 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  American  composer  of 
opera,  and  would  publish  and  help  to  a  production  the 
first  worthy  work  of  that  kind  which  crossed  his  artistic 
path.  Fortunately  for  all  concerned,  he  had  not  long  to 
wait,  for  Pietro  Floridia's  "Paoletta"  found  its  way  in 
the  ordinary  course,  to  Mr.  Feist's  desk  and  he  at  once 
recognized  its  significance  as  a  composition  and  its 
suitability  to  serve  as  the  pioneer  publication  in  his 
campaign  for  universal  recognition  of  the  high-class 
concert  and  operatic  music  written  in  this  country.  A 
production  of  "Paoletta"  was  undertaken  most  en- 
thusiastically by  the  Ohio  Valley  Exposition  of 
1910,  the  committee  of  which  recognized  the 
great  drawing  power  of  a  grand  opera  of  the  first  rank 
never  before  presented  on  any  stage,  and  they  pro- 
vided Signer  Floridia's  work  with  a  famous  cast  and 
lavish  scenery  for  its  premiere  on  August  29,  at  the 
Music  Hall,  Cincinnati.  "Paoletta"  made  an  instanta- 
neous hit  and  ran  for  twenty-nine  consecutive  per- 
formances with  full  houses  and  enthusiastic  applause 
attesting  its  genuine  popularity. 


Ctoentietf)    Centutg 157 

Leo  Feist,  a  man  of  broad  musical  tastes  and 
catholic  mental  standpoint,  has  not  confined  his  en- 
deavors in  the  American  musical  cause  to  operas  alone, 
for  his  publications  contain  everything  from  the  light- 
est popular  songs  to  the  standard  classics  of  the 
vocal  and  instrumental  literature,  comic  operas,  con- 
certed numbers,  in  fact,  everything  which  can  be 
sung  or  played  by  the  musically  inclined  population 
of  America,  and  of  Europe,  too,  for  the  Feist  concern 
has  its  busy  branches  in  London,  Berlin,  Paris  and 
Vienna. 


158  €i)e    Stage    in 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  United  Booking  Offices,  the  largest  vaudeville 
institution  in  the  world,  has  reached  its  present  status 
through  a  series  of  vicissitudes  and  experiences  such  as 
have  rarely  been  survived,  if,  in  fact,  it  can  be  stated 
that  theatrical  history  can  record  any  instance  where 
persistency  and  perseverance  have  combined  to  achieve 
ultimately  such  a  vast  enterprise,  which  has  had  to 
fight,  inch  by  inch,  for  every  step  of  progress  it  has 
made. 

Never  in  the  world's  history  has  there  been  built 
up  an  institution,  the  success  of  which  has  been  more 
bitterly  contested  than  has  this  mammoth  exchange 
inaugurated  in  the  year  1900  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing the  few  managers  then  operating  together  with  no 
other  view  than  to  conduct  a  booking  agency  upon 
an  enlarged  scale. 

The  previous  volumes  have  contained  brief  descrip- 
tive accounts  of  the  scope  and  purposes  of  what  was 
originally  called  "The  Association  of  Vaudeville  Man- 
agers of  the  United  States,"  but  there  is  much  that  has 
not  yet  been  written  of  this  remarkable  organization 
now  composed  of  millionaires  and  multi-millionaires, 
and  the  present  time  is  far  more  appropriate  for  such 
a  recital  in  view  of  the  unique  and  important  position 
which  the  United  Booking  Offices  of  1912  hold  at 
this  time. 


a  § 

r^      O» 


Ctoentletft    Centurg 159 

But  for  one  man — an  aggressive,  red-headed  Irish- 
man, possessing  the  grit  and  determination  of  his 
race — this  tremendous  organization,  controlling  abso- 
lutely the  destiny  of  three  hundred  theatres  and  earn- 
ing, as  agents,  an  income  so  large  that  it  cannot  be 
computed  within  thousands  or  tens  of  thousands,  would 
never  have  existed  after  the  very  first  year  of  its 
tempestuous  career.  This  man  was  Daniel  F.  Hen- 
nessy,  an  old-time  agent,  but  in  this  instance  the 
term  agent  is  used  literally  as  well  as  advisedly,  for 
here  we  have  one  of  the  few  men  now  operating  in  the 
propitious  vaudeville  field  who  had  given  yeoman  ser- 
vice in  his  calling  for  two  full  decades  before  it  became 
his  lot  to  assume  the  position  of  general  manager  of 
the  first  offices  established  in  New  York  City  for  the 
purpose  of  systematizing  the  booking  facilities  of  a 
decidedly  primitive  period  in  the  era  of  modern  vau- 
deville. 

Hennessy  had  been,  just  previous  to  his  advent 
in  the  association's  offices,  the  manager  of  a  vaudeville 
theatre  in  Cleveland,  and  it  was  from  this  man's  brain, 
that  the  idea  emanated  to  make  a  "trust"  out  of  the 
growing  interests,  which  were  then  scattered  all  over 
the  country.  The  managers  did  not  even  know  each 
other,  but  they  had  already  reached  a  state  of  pros- 
perity that  made  all  respond  with  alacrity  to  the  call 
for  a  convention,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
an  association  that  took  less  than  one  year  to  bring 
to  a  state  of  disaster  and  bankruptcy  because  of  the 
selfish  motives  and  the  lack  of  public  spirit  charac- 
terizing their  business  procedures. 

Hennessy  at  all  times  in  the  early  period,  and  ever 
after,  was  a  veritable  enthusiast,  and  when  the  day 


160  Cfce    Stage    in    tfte 

came  that  the  outcome  of  the  famous  White  Rats 
strike  threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  association, 
he  alone  had  faith.  It  may  be  that  his  extraordinary 
energy  and  his  power  of  persuasion  at  this  time 
were  due  to  a  desire  to  conserve  the  position  he  him- 
self occupied  at  a  salary  of  $5,000  a  year,  for  this 
was  the  equivalent  of  $200  a  week  "on  the  road,"  and 
in  1900  such  figures  as  these  caused  amazement.  But 
whatever  Hennessy's  motive,  he  surely  did  plot  and 
plan  in  those  precarious  days.  He  rallied  the  divers 
vaudeville  agents  around  him,  and  when  the  men  now 
so  conspicuous  in  the  United  Booking  Offices  refused 
to  maintain  the  expensive  offices  any  longer,  it  was 
Hennessy  who  created  a  plan,  with  the  agents'  help, 
by  which  the  business  was  gradually  made  to  pay 
expenses.  In  due  time  the  troubles  and  trials  grew 
less  difficult  to  cope  with,  and  then  the  "big  men" 
began  to  creep  back  to  their  former  power  and  dignity, 
until  they  survived  only  to  expand  and  become  a  tre- 
mendous influence;  in  fact,  the  business  grew  at  such 
a  rate  that  a  memory  of  Hennessy's  achievement  in 
those  troublous  days  must  be  unpleasant  reading 
for  some  of  the  gentlemen  at  this  time,  but,  aside 
from  Hennessy,  it  is  fair  to  state  still  another  man 
persevered,  and  this  one  no  less  a  potential  figure  than 
Edward  F.  Albee.  But  with  all  the  latter's  indomitable 
push  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  with  all  the  genius  he  has 
displayed  in  mastering  one  after  the  other  every  prob- 
lem that  he  has  been  confronted  with,  he  will  admit, 
if  his  memory  is  not  treacherous  and  his  mind  not 
prejudiced,  that  but  for  the  iron  will  and  the  unlimited 
and  never-ceasing  loyalty  of  the  little  red-headed 
Irishman  from  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  the  remarkable  history 


Ctoentfetfi    Centutg  _  iei 

of  a  remarkable  institution  might  never  have  been 
worthy  of  relation. 


The  theatrical  lawyer  has  gradually  become  one  of 
the  most  vital  figures  affiliated  with  the  stage  calling, 
and  in  these  days  of  millionaire  institutions  for  the 
conduct  of  vast  amusement  undertakings,  it  has  not 
been  unusual  for  eminent  counsel  to  devote  their  ex- 
clusive services  to  a  single  client.  This,  at  least, 
is  true  of  Maurice  Goodman,  attorney  for  B.  F.  Keith 
and  the  United  Booking  Offices,  and  this  gentleman 
has  not  been  lacking  in  occupation  under  the  condi- 
tions existing  in  these  offices. 

Mr.  Goodman  is  still  a  very  young  man,  and  he  has 
achieved  some  notable  legal  victories.  In  fact,  it  is 
rare  indeed  that  the  outcome  from  any  litigation  in 
which  the  U.  B.  O.  has  been  involved,  has  not  been 
favorable,  and,  in  several  instances,  the  utmost  anxiety 
was  felt  as  to  the  possibility  of  an  adverse  decision, 
for,  as  a  rule,  the  U.  B.  O.'s  legal  warfare  has  been 
of  that  character  such  as  any  large  corporation  is 
forced  to  face. 

When  the  settlement  was  made  between  Klaw  & 
Erlanger  and  Mr.  Goodman's  clients,  the  latter  were 
called  upon  to  assume  nearly  a  million  dollars  in 
contractual  obligations  before  the  vaudeville  regime 
of  Klaw  &  Erlanger  could  be  ended,  and  it  is  in 
such  intricate  matters  that  the  expert  legal  procedure 
of  Mr.  Goodman  has  availed.  It  is  doubtful  if  any 
legal  firm  in  the  city  would  care  to  handle  more  busi- 
ness than  this  gentleman  has  to  dispose  of  each  year, 


162 C&e   S>tage   in   tjie 

though,  even  at  that,  fully  half  of  the  cases  are  settled 
out  of  court.  But  this  does  not  signify  that  the  at- 
torney has  had  any  less  labor  to  perform. 

Pasquale  Amato,  leading  baritone  of  the  Metropol- 
itan Opera  Company,  New  York,  is  a  native  of  Naples, 
and  is  thirty-two  years  of  age.  He  began  singing 
as  an  amateur  at  seventeen  and  shortly  afterwards 
took  up  the  study  of  voice  with  a  view  toward  mak- 
ing opera  his  profession. 

His  preparation  was  most  thorough,  and  much  of 
his  present  success  may  be  traced  directly  to  the  guid- 
ance of  Carelli.  Amato  worked  hard  for  five  years 
before  making  his  debut  in  the  Bellini  Theatre,  Naples, 
as  "Germont"  in  "La  Traviata." 

Success  came  to  him  at  once,  and  the  young  baritone 
appeared  in  first  parts  of  the  standard  operas  at  the 
theatres  in  the  smaller  Italian  cities.  After  a  few 
months  of  this  work  Amato  was  summoned  to  Milan. 
There  he  remained  for  two  seasons. 

His  fame  growing,  the  baritone  found  excellent 
openings  in  the  leading  opera  houses  in  Leipsic, 
Munich,  Marienbad,  Nuremburg  and  Prague. 

Amato  then  went  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  remained 
there  for  five  successive  seasons.  His  success  there 
was  so  great  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  was 
permitted  to  accept  an  offer  from  the  Vienna  Royal 
Opera.  Co  vent  Garden  (London)  followed  next  and 
then  New  York,  where  Amato  has  been  at  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House  for  four  years. 

The  successes  which  have  come  to  Amato  at  the 
Metropolitan  were  duplicated  at  Paris,  where  he  sang 
at  the  Chatelet  Theatre  in  the  Spring  of  1910,  when 
the  Metropolitan  organization  made  its  first  European 


Ctoentietfr    Centurg  _  163 

invasion,  and  at  Ostend,  during  the  Summer  of  the 
same  year. 

Among  the  eighty-four  roles,  lyric  and  dramatic, 
that  Amato  sings  are  "Jack  Ranee"  in  Puccini's  "The 
Girl  of  the  Golden  West,"  which  he  created  at  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House  in  December,  1910.  Amato, 
Caruso  and  Destinn  are  frequently  called  "The  Big 
Three"  in  opera. 

The  voice  of  this  baritone  is  a  big,  sonorous  bari- 
tone of  marked  %  flexibility  and  admirably  produced. 
But  it  is  Amato's  vocal  and  dramatic  art  that  have 
placed  him  in  his  present  position.  He  is  a  singer  of 
the  intellectual  type  —  a  master. 


To  make  a  correct  prediction  is  always  a  gratifying 
satisfaction. 

Two  years  ago  I  felt  constrained  to  write  that 
Albert  Spalding's  career  would  gradually  develop  his 
supremacy  over  Mischa  Elman,  the  only  apparent  rival 
he  possessed  in  the  race  for  the  place  of  the  greatest 
living  violinist  of  the  next  decade. 

Last  year  I  was  glad  to  note  that  I  had  been  more 
than  justified  in  this  prophecy  and  that  Spalding  was 
carrying  everything  before  him  on  his  tour  of  Conti- 
nental Europe,  and  that  in  Russia,  in  particular,  this 
American  artist  had  been  acclaimed  as  one  of  the 
world's  greatest  musicians. 

It  then  seemed  as  if  Spalding  had  obtained  the 
maximum  success. 

This  year,  however,  he  has  gone  even  beyond  his 


164  C&e    Stage    in    t&e 

own  successful  record,  having  triumphantly  swept 
the  difficult,  discerning,  musical  Germans  off  their 
feet  in  a  wave  of  enthusiasm  such  as  few  if  any  other 
young  artists  have  ever  before  created. 

That  the  independent  German  critics  of  all  the  cele- 
brated German  musical  cities  should  unamimously  hail 
Spalding  as  a  revelation,  a  "comet  in  the  musical  fir- 
mament," is  a  recognition  of  American  virtuosity  of 
musical  importance. 

One  had  a  right  to  expect  much  from  Spalding  after 
his  "conquest  of  Paris  once  and  forever" — to  quote 
Chevigne,  a  leading  French  critic,  but  few,  even  of  his 
most  earnest  admirers,  expected  Spalding  to  so  soon 
and  so  completely  dazzle  Germany  with  its  barriers 
of  unquestionable  traditions,  and  its  reticence  to  ap- 
prove of  any  artist  not  essentially  German;  and  this 
goes  to  prove  that  for  the  really  great  artist  there 
is  only  one  Patrie — the  Universe.  For  him  there  are 
neither  frontiers,  nor  racial  distinctions,  a  fact  many 
Americans  might  do  well  to  remember. 

Nor  has  Spalding  confined  his  extensive  touring 
this  season  to  Germany.  After  two  years'  absence 
from  England  his  appearance  in  London  this  Spring 
was  hailed  with  delight,  and  he  created  a  veritable 
sensation  among  musicians  and  critics  who  noted  his 
extraordinary  development,  since  last  they  heard  him, 
with  unstinted  praise  and  approbation. 

"Such  art  could  only  be  born  of  a  miracle,"  wrote 
a  French  critic  after  his  last  concert  of  the  season  in 
Havre,  for  Spalding  possesses  not  only  every  quality 
that  the  most  exacting  demands  for  virtuosity  can 
conceive,  but  more  a  scholarly,  inspired  musicianship 
that  ranks  him  already  as  one  of  the  few  really  great 


THE    EDISON   STUDIO 


CREATING    A    LOVE    FOR    MUSIC    THROUGH    THE    VICTOR    PHONO- 
GRAPH    IN     PUBLIC     SCHOOLS 


r        '     f     „*    rf  *    t*  r  T*  r     f  '         *         '      'f 

fff     »     »   *   I    *"  »  •        "     *  *    '  '      f\  *" 


Ctoentictft    Centurp  165 

musicians  as  well  as  one  of  the  few  really  great  artists 
in  the  world  to-day. 


Perhaps  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  rising  generation 
from  a  musical  standpoint  has  come  from  what  is 
known  as  the  "Victor  Public  School  Movement." 
Science  has  served  its  greatest  purpose  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  phonograph  in  the  public  schools,  and 
we  have  to  thank  Frances  Elliott  Clark,  of  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  for  inaugurating  the  campaign  which  has  in- 
stilled in  the  hearts  of  the  young  all  over  this  great 
country,  a  love  for  music,  that  is  so  demonstrating 
itself  that  the  Victor  Company  now  regards  this 
part  of  their  industry  as  the  most  constructive,  from 
a  distinctly  educational  viewpoint,  that  they  have  been 
enabled  to  achieve. 

The  mode  of  procedure  by  which  Mrs.  Clark  created 
a  vogue  in  the  educational  institutions  for  this  great 
invention  was  truly  unique.  Concerts  were  given 
with  the  Victor  records  as  the  attraction  before  and 
after  school  for  half  an  hour  on  certain  days  as  a  re- 
ward for  studious  classes,  giving  a  special  programme 
to  the  room  which  had  the  best  record  in  spelling,  or 
attendance,  or  promptness,  giving  concerts  in  differ- 
ent rooms  at  different  hours,  thus  making  the  phono- 
graph a  part  of  the  school  life,  teaching  an  apprecia- 
tion and  a  knowledge  of  music. 

At  first  a  promiscuous  programme  consisting  exclu- 
sively of  classical  records  was  given;  later  classifying 
and  playing  towards  a  certain  composer  or  author, 
the  songs  of  Burns,  Shakespeare  and  Tennyson  being 
featured. 


166  _  Cije    S)tage    in    tfre 

Having  played  in  the  different  classrooms  a  num- 
ber of  records  a  great  many  times,  such  as  "Home  to 
our  Mountains,"  "Miserere"  and  Schubert's  "Ser- 
enade," and  having  given  the  title  and  composer  each 
time,  a  test  is  made  to  see  if  the  pupils  have  learned 
to  know  these  masterpieces.  Each  one  is  asked  to 
write  the  name  of  the  selection,  composer,  singer  or 
player,  and  the  resultant  effect  has  been  beyond  even 
the  most  optimistic  expectations. 

The  pupils  became  so  enthused  over  these  free 
concerts  that  they  pleaded  with  their  parents  for 
music  in  their  homes,  expressing  an  earnest  desire  to 
hear  the  singers  and  musicians  when  their  names,  now 
familiar,  were  announced  in  the  public  press. 

This  movement  has  also  brought  about  a  largely 
increased  demand  for  literature  having  to  do  with  the 
world's  greatest  musicians;  especially  has  this  been 
noticeable  in  the  New  York  Public  Library.  No  one 
can  doubt  that  the  incentive  thus  provided  must  tend 
to  the  development  of  many  musical  careers,  while 
the  ambition  for  artistic  achievement  created  thus  in 
the  youthful  will  naturally  lead  to  thousands  seeking 
an  outlet  for  their  musical  talent  in  various  ways. 


Miss  Valerie  Bergere  has  established  herself  in  a 
manner  so  unique  in  the  vaudevilles  of  this  country, 
that  it  is  really  quite  difficult  to  exactly  describe  her 
position,  for  she  is  a  sort  of  "Pooh  Bah"  in  that,  be- 
sides being  a  stellar  figure,  Miss  Bergere  is  also  a 
manageress  with  enough  irons  in  the  fire  to  keep  Mr. 
Frohman  or  Mr.  Shubert  busy. 


Ctocntietft    Centutp  ier 

Miss  Bergere  is  an  artiste  of  temperament,  who  about 
fifteen  years  ago  came  into  vaudeville,  modestly,  in  a 
little  skit  with  a  Miss  Esther  Moore.  These  were  not 
the  days  of  advanced  vaudeville,  and  many  a  career 
was  wasted  for  lack  of  opportunity,  but  Valerie  Ber- 
gere was  wont  to  act  so  vigorously  in  her  plans  for  her- 
self, that  her  progress  was  as  rapid  as  it  was  deserving. 

Less  than  ten  years  ago,  this  artiste,  often  called  the 
queen  of  vaudeville,  a  title  which  does  not  properly 
convey  the  scope  of  her  endeavor  and  achievement, 
came  forth  in  a  sketch  by  Miss  Grace  Griswold,  en- 
titled "Billee's  First  Love,"  and  in  this  she  scored  so 
great  a  success  that  it  is  an  actual  fact  that  she  has 
never  been  idle  a  week,  save  from  choice,  in  the 
decade  that  has  elapsed  since  her  debut  as  a  star  in  an 
important  vehicle.  Her  first  salary,  large  as  it  was, 
was  the  smallest  she  has  ever  had,  while  at  this  time 
the  only  thing  that  prevents  her  advent  as  a  Frohman 
star,  or  under  some  management  equally  prominent,  is 
the  fact  that  her  interests  in  vaudeville  as  a  producer 
are  too  great  to  be  abandoned,  though  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  this  condition  is  withholding  from  the 
legitimate  theatre  an  actress,  who  would  quickly  be- 
come the  head  of  her  profession. 


William  J.  Davis,  for  many  years  a  local  manager  in 
Chicago,  became  identified  with  the  amusement  busi- 
ness without  seeking  it.  When  in  railway  business  he 
became  friendly  with  the  late  William  R.  Hayden,  who 
in  1875  was  the  contracting  agent  for  W.  W.  Cole's 


168 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfre 

circus.  Later,  Mr.  Cole  became  the  financial  partner 
of  the  firm  of  Grover  &  Cole,  who  built  and  conducted 
the  famous  Adelphi  Theatre  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Hayden 
was  business  manager  of  this  theatre  from  its  opening 
until  the  following  Spring,  when  his  circus  duties 
called  him.  He  prevailed  on  Mr.  Davis  to  accept  the 
position  which  he  induced  Mr.  Cole  to  offer  him.  There 
he  met  the  late  Jack  Haverly,  who  asked  him  to  join 
his  staff,  and  Davis  went  to  California  for  Haverly  & 
Maguire,  taking  charge  of  the  Original  Georgia  Min- 
strels on  their  initial  trans-continental  tour. 

In  San  Francisco  he  assumed  the  business  manage- 
ment of  the  three  Haverly  &  Maguire  theatres.  While 
there,  he  was  induced  to  return  to  railway  service  by 
reason  of  an  advanced  position  and  larger  salary,  but 
after  three  years  of  such  work  Manager  Haverly  again 
secured  him,  sending  him  to  New  York  to  take  charge 
of  the  first  American  tour  of  Her  Majesty's  Opera 
Company.  Then  Haverly  sent  him  out  for  a  tour  with 
Lester  Wallack,  the  first,  of  that  illustrious  actor. 

During  this  tour,  and  while  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Davis 
was  asked  to  hear  a  musical  rehearsal  of  "Pinafore"  by 
the  Chicago  Church  Choir  Company.  He  was  so  much 
impressed  that  he  wired  Mr.  Haverly,  who  told  him 
to  secure  the  attraction.  He  made  a  briefly  written 
contract,  which  would  be  a  joke  nowadays,  but  it  suf- 
ficed and  he  toured  the  country,  far  and  wide,  pre- 
senting a  performance  of  "Pinafore"  never  surpassed 
anywhere.  He  remained  with  Haverly  until  the  open- 
ing of  the  New  Grand  Opera  House,  Chicago,  of  which 
he  was  the  first  business  manager.  Then  he  went  to 
the  new  Haverly  Theatre,  later  named  the  Columbia. 
After  two  seasons  at  this  house  he  became  lessee  and 


Ctoentieti)    Centurp 169 

manager  of  the  Haymarket,  the  most  pretentious  thea- 
tre on  the  west  side  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Davis  was 
enabled  to  secure  this  independent  start  in  theatrical 
life  by  the  substantial  and  financial  aid  of  his  first 
employer  in  theatricals,  W.  W.  Cole.  The  Haymarket 
was  built  under  his  supervision,  which  was  a  condition 
of  the  lease,  and  many  novelties  were  disclosed  upon 
its  opening,  both  before  and  behind  the  curtain.  After 
two  successful  seasons  at  the  Haymarket,  he  obtained 
control  of  the  Columbia  Theatre,  Chicago,  with  which 
he  associated  Al.  Hayman,  then  a  San  Francisco  man- 
ager. Together  with  Mr.  Hayman  he  later  obtained 
a  lease  of  the  Century  Theatre,  St.  Louis,  and  an  in- 
terest in  Powers'  Theatre,  Chicago.  Fire  having 
nearly  consumed  the  Columbia  and  being  unable  to 
secure  a  desirable  renewal  of  their  lease,  ground  was 
obtained  and  the  Illinois  Theatre  was  built  and  opened 
in  October,  1900,  with  Julia  Marlowe  in  "Barbara 
Fritchie." 

Associated  in  the  ownership  of  the  Illinois  were  Al. 
Hayman,  Charles  Frohman,  Klaw  &  Erlanger  and 
Harry  Powers.  Mr.  Hayman  has  since  sold  out  to 
Wm.  Harris.  Mr.  Davis  was  in  touch  with  the  build- 
ing of  the  Illinois  from  the  excavation  to  the  opening. 

The  ill-fated  Iroquois  was  his  next  venture,  he  hav- 
ing been  one  of  the  promoters  and  a  fourth  owner  of 
the  beautiful  playhouse. 

Mr.  Davis  married  Jessie  Bartlett,  of  the  Church 
Choir  "Pinafore"  Company,  in  1880.  Her  death,  all 
untimely,  occurred  in  1905.  One  son,  Will  J.  Davis, 
Jr.,  survived  this  union.  In  1907  he  married  Mary 
Ellen  O'Hagan.  He  has  a  Summer 'home  in  Indiana, 
and  is  fond  of  the  trotting  horse  and  collie  dogs. 


170 


CHAPTER  X 

To  one  who  has  given  any  thought  to  the  subject, 
it  would  seem  almost  certain  that  the  theatre-and- 
opera-goers  of  the  future  generation  will  not  witness 
any  perpetuation  of  the  great  artistry  possessed  by  the 
prominent  figures  of  the  stage  whose  achievement  en- 
thralled our  forefathers. 

There  remains  on  view  to-day  the  spectacle  of 
that  Titaness  of  two  centuries,  Sarah  Bernhardt,  the 
very  last  of  the  superb  coterie  of  the  seventies.  Where 
can  we  look  for  her  successor  when  she  elects  to  bring 
her  long  and  unexampled  career  to  a  close?  Here  we 
have  the  one  and  only  representative  of  yesterday's 
stage,  whose  career  has  not  been  obliterated  by  the 
modernism  of  the  stage ;  nor  has  she  as  yet  succumbed 
to  it. 

Oh,  ye  overworked  players!  What  a  commentary 
is  it  to  witness  the  consummate  art  of  the  divine  Sarah 
on  her  eighth  American  tour  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
In  three  weeks  not  only  have  we  been  privileged  to  see 
twelve  of  her  most  sublime  portrayals,  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  in  all  the  world  cannot  be  found  a  single  represen- 
tative of  the  younger  generations  of  players  indicating 
the  slightest  desire  to  compete  with  her. 

Excepting  Eleanora  Duse — and  she  appears  but  in- 
termittently— Sarah  is  the  only  living  executant  of  the 
classics  of  Racine,  Moliere,  Meilhac,  and  Halevy,  and 
look  where  you  will,  nothing  is  indicated  on  the  hori- 
zon suggestive  of  an  inheritance. 


Ctoentfetft    Centtirp m 

On  the  male  side  the  situation  is  far  worse.  In  Italy, 
Tommaso  Salvini,  the  greatest  tragedian  the  world 
ever  saw,  is  approaching  his  eighty-fifth  year  in  a  re- 
tirement to  which  he  is  fairly  entitled ;  but  even  in  his 
own  country  he  is  without  an  aspirant  to  his  mantle. 
France  has  yet  the  younger  Coquelins  and  Mounet- 
Sully,  but  can  anyone  find  in  the  Comedie  Francaise 
of  to-day  players  with  the  artistry  and  ambitions  fitting 
them  for  such  a  career  as  was  provided  for  Constant 
Coquelin  in  that  ennobling  institution  when  he  was  its 
most  honored  societaire. 

In  England,  the  vaudeville  stage  has  captured  the 
sons  of  the  late  Henry  Irving.  Ellen  Terry  is  in 
America,  delivering  discourses.  Nowhere  in  the  United 
Kingdom  does  there  remain  to-day  a  truly  great  dra- 
matic figure,  not  modernized  into  oblivion. 

And  what  of  America?  No  one  is  so  foolish  as  to  ask 
if  we  are  ever  to  have  another  Charlotte  Cushman. 
After  Booth,  Barrett,  McCullough  and  Davenport  came 
one  great  genius,  Mansfield,  who  left  absolutely  no 
inheritance.  Did  the  New  Theatre  reveal  to  the 
naked  eye  any  indication  that  from  its  founders'  am- 
bitions will  come  the  great  dramatic  figures  of  the 
theatre  of  to-morrow? 

Are  we  emerging  to  an  era  of  George  Cohanism? 
The  writer  yields  to  no  one  in  appreciation  of  this 
bizarre  comedian,  who,  while  yet  in  his  twenties,  has 
evolved  a  plethora  of  clean  and  effervescent  comedies ; 
but  the  very  fact  that  young  Mr.  Cohan  is  to-day  the 
most  successful  financially  of  the  contributors  to  the 
stage  is  evidence  in  plenty  that  such  as  he  are  relied 
upon  by  the  managerial  element  to  keep  the  wolf  from 
the  door. 


172 Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

Miracles  are  not  likely  in  Theatredom,  hence  it  is 
well  to  confess  that  the  wonderful  French  woman, 
now  passing  by  for  undoubtedly  the  last  time,  is  be- 
stowing upon  us  the  last  opportunity  we  may  ever  have 
of  witnessing  the  classics  of  great  masters  of  other 
days. 


The  largest  receipts  taken  in  anywhere  in  the  world 
for  a  single  performance  were  recorded  at  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House  in  New  York  on  February  25, 
1902,  when  a  gala  performance  was  given  in  honor  of 
Prince  Henry,  the  brother  of  the  German  Emperor. 
The  scale  of  prices  was  increased  sixfold.  The  gross 
takings  were  in  excess  of  $50,000,  and  although  all  of 
the  stars  of  the  opera  appeared,  involving  enormous  ex- 
penditure, the  profits  for  that  one  night  were  nearly 
$30,000,  a  sum  that  would  have  satisfied  any  impresario 
of  the  past  for  a  year's  operation. 

The  nearest  approach  to  this  extraordinary  record 
came  from  what  is  known  as  the  state  performances 
at  Covent  Garden  in  London,  when  the  royal  family 
is  present,  accompanied  by  nearly  all  of  the  nobles 
and  their  families.  On  these  occasions  the  prices  are 
trebled,  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  seats  or 
boxes  at  any  price.  The  gross  receipts  have  been  as 
high  as  £8,000  sterling,  or  $40,000,  and  never  less  than 
£6,000,  or  $30,000. 

When  Henry  E.  Abbey  retired  from  the  direction 
of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  in  its  inaugural  year, 
1883,  the  stockholders  tendered  him  a  benefit.  All 
of  the  singers  gave  their  services  gratis,  there  were 


Centurg  173 


no  expenses,  the  receipts  were  $32,000,  and  the  entire 
sum  went  to  Mr.  Abbey.  This  event  held  the  record 
up  to  that  time.  Lester  Wallack's  widow  was  given  a 
testimonial  in  the  same  house  a  few  years  later  when 
nearly  $25,000  was  taken  in. 

It  has  always  been  the  custom  to  set  apart  the  last 
night  of  the  opera  season  at  the  Metropolitan  as  a  bene- 
fit for  the  impresario.  The  custom  began  in  1890  and 
lasted  until  the  end  of  Herr  Conried's  consulship,  four 
years  ago.  All  of  the  stars,  and  even  the  minor  sing- 
ers and  the  chorus  and  orchestra,  had  it  stipulated  in 
their  contracts  that  they  were  to  sing  this  one  night 
for  nothing;  the  programme  as  a  rule  contained  some 
novel  plan  by  which  all  of  the  stars  could  be  utilized 
for  a  few  moments,  the  soldiers'  chorus  from  "Faust" 
being  a  favorite  choice.  The  prices  for  these  benefits 
were  doubled  and  always  resulted  in  a  capacity  audi- 
ence, $22,000  being  the  average  total,  all  of  which 
would  go  to  the  impresario,  who  added  this  sum  to  his 
profits  or  salary,  according  to  the  nature  of  his  agree- 
ment. 

Aside  from  these  benefits,  and  special  performances, 
all  of  the  records  of  a  box  office  character  are  held  abso- 
lutely by  that  world  famous  diva,  Adelina  Patti,  who 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  without  a  peer  either  in 
opera  or  concert.  Patti  was  the  only  star,  musical  or 
dramatic,  who  could  draw  a  $10,000  house  in  concert 
and  a  $15,000  house  in  opera  ;  she  has  drawn  as  high  as 
$13,800  in  a  single  concert  (Philadelphia,  November  9, 
1904),  and  her  record  as  a  box  office  star  in  opera  was 
reached  in  Boston  at  a  matinee  at  Mechanic's  Hall  in 
1888,  when  she  drew  $18,900. 

Patti  often  drew  $12,000  in  concert,  and  quite  as  fre- 


174 Cfre    S>tagc    fit    tfte 

quently  $15,000  in  opera,  moreover  she  is  to  this  day 
holding  not  only  these  records,  but  is  the  only  star  in 
the  world  who  could  command  $5  for  seats  for  con- 
certs; also  Patti  alone  could  pack  a  house  in  opera  at 
$7  a  seat.  It  has  always  required  a  combination  of 
stars  singing  in  an  extraordinary  performance  in  order 
to  attract  the  public  at  any  such  prices. 

Patti's  record  in  opera  was  almost  approached  by 
Caruso  at  one  performance  given  in  1910  at  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  when  he  drew  an  $18,600  house  to  hear  him  in 
"Aida."  In  New  York  Caruso  draws  $11,000  and 
$12,000  at  the  box  office,  and  on  his  only  concert  tour 
drew  as  high  as  $9,000.  The  great  tenor  thus  comes 
next  to  Patti.  The  diva  also  holds  the  record  of  being 
paid  at  all  times  by  far  the  largest  honorarium  of  any 
singer  or  player  in  the  world's  history.  For  twenty 
years  she  had  been  paid  $4,000  a  night,  and  on  her  last 
tour,  when  she  was  least  of  all  worthy,  was  granted 
$5,000  a  night. 

At  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  when  "The  Girl 
of  the  Golden  West"  was  given  last  season,  twice  at 
double  prices  at  the  opening  of  the  season,  the  takings 
amounted  to  $22,000  at  each  performance.  Aside  from 
such  special  nights  the  receipts  range  from  $8,000  to 
$12,000  a  night,  and  it  will  surprise  the  reader  to  learn 
that  Atlanta,  Ga.,  not  only  holds  the  record  for  a  single 
operatic  performance  as  before  stated,  but  the  Southern 
city  can  boast  of  having  paid  the  largest  sum  at  the 
box  office  for  a  week  of  opera  in  the  world's  history. 
This  was  also  in  1910  when  the  Metropolitan  Company 
drew  $80,000  in  a  week  of  six  days ;  the  scale  of  prices 
ranged  from  $1  to  $7. 

At  the  Auditorium,  in  Chicago,  where  the  seating 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 175 

capacity  is  the  largest  of  any  regular  opera  house,  Patti 
often  drew  $15,000  houses  in  opera  and  $12,000  in  con- 
cert. Jean  de  Reszke  drew  nearly  $15,000  on  several 
nights  there.  Chicago,  however,  has  not  enabled  any 
one  to  surpass  Patti's  records,  because  the  scale  of 
prices  there  has  up  to  1910  always  been  a  shade  lower 
than  in  New  York,  being  from  50  cents  to  $3.50.  How- 
ever, the  scale  was  raised  to  the  New  York  schedule, 
but  no  records  were  broken,  not  even  on  the  "Salome" 
night. 

Nellie  Melba  has  drawn  an  $8,000  house  in  concert. 
Next  to  Patti  she  has  been  the  most  compelling  at  the 
box  office  of  the  stars  of  her  sex.  Madame  Schumann- 
Heink  emphatically  holds  the  record  for  contraltos. 
Her  achievement  in  this  respect,  too,  may  be  set  down 
as  remarkable,  as  no  contralto  until  her  advent  has  ever 
shown  any  great  drawing  power.  The  German  con- 
tralto came  here  at  a  weekly  salary  of  $250;  to-day  her 
earnings  for  a  similar  period  are  never  less  than  $5,000. 
She  is  the  only  contralto  in  the  world  who  has  been  able 
to  draw  a  $5,000  house.  Moreover,  she  has  never  had 
any  supporting  company,  giving  song  recitals  alone 
with  piano  accompaniment. 

An  illustration  of  the  changes  in  box  office  records 
is  shown  in  comparing  the  receipts  of  the  visit  to 
America  of  Anton  Rubinstein  in  1872  with  Paderew- 
ski's  tours  here  in  recent  years.  Rubinstein  came  for 
one  hundred  concerts  under  Maurice  Grau ;  he  was  paid 
$200  a  concert;  with  him  came  Henri  Wieniawski,  the 
famous  Russian  violinist,  who  was  paid  $100  a  night. 
The  two  drew  an  average  of  $1,200  a  night,  and  even 
when  they  were  combined  with  Theodore  Thomas'  or- 
chestra, the  receipts  never  reached  $3,000  a  night.  Ru- 


176 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfte 

binstein  ever  after  resented  the  poor  compensation 
allotted  to  him  and  ten  years  later  refused  $3,000  a 
night  for  his  own  services  from  the  very  same  im- 
presario. He  never  returned  to  America.  Paderewski, 
however,  when  he  was  not  his  own  manager,  received 
$1,500  a  night,  and  he  has  often  drawn  from  $6,000  to 
$9,000  in  a  single  concert  in  which  he  alone  was  the 
attraction. 

There  are  dozens  of  stars  of  the  opera  house  who 
go  on  concert  tours ;  they  all  do  well.  Eames,  Nordica, 
Calve,  Bonci,  Sembrich  and  others  earn  far  greater 
sums  on  their  concert  tours  than  they  do  from  their 
operatic  efforts. 

Outside  of  opera  and  concerts,  the  records  for  box 
office  receipts  are  held  by  Sarah  Bernhardt,  who  holds 
the  world's  record  for  a  week  of  dramatic  perfomances. 
Sarah  drew  $42,000  in  one  week  at  the  Tremont  Thea- 
tre in  Boston  on  her  third  tour,  a  portion  of  this  total 
coming  from  premiums  at  an  auction  sale  of  the  choice 
seats  and  boxes.  Sarah  also  earns  more  money  than 
any  single  individual  except  Patti,  though  her  honorar- 
ium is  not  as  large  as  some  of  the  singers,  but  Sarah 
often  appears  as  many  as  ten  times  a  week,  whereas 
Patti  never  sang  more  than  three  times  in  a  similar 
period,  but  Sarah  saves  nothing  from  her  vast  earnings, 
whereas  Patti  is  worth  several  millions,  and  her  pos- 
sessions in  the  way  of  jewels  are  the  most  valuable  ever 
accumulated  by  a  stage  celebrity ! 

Of  strictly  American  attractions,  playing  at  ordinary 
theatre  prices,  "Ben-Hur"  holds  the  record  in  very 
many  respects.  This  play  is  now  in  its  twelfth  year  and 
it  still  can  draw  $30,000  in  a  single  week;  moreover 
this  production  is  able  to  "repeat"  year  after  year  with 


.MISHLER    THEATRE. 

ALTOONA,  PENNA. 

BOX    OFFICE    STATEMENT. 
I.  C  MKHLER,  Mapager. 


ATTRACTION 


Weather 


.L^y^*^^ 

Km:       .     j'. 


Gash, 


TOTAL, 


Company'.  Share 
House  Share 


TOTAL, 


Per  Cent,  $ 
"       *  "       $ 
'  $.... 


Signed 


RECORD   BOX   OFFICE   STATEMENT  FOR  A  ONE-NIGHT  STAND 


Ctoentictft    Centuig m 

no  visible  decline  in  its  vogue.  The  extraordinary 
spectacle  of  a  single  production  going  to  a  city  the  size 
of  Altoona,  Pa.,  and  playing  a  full  week  is  a  rare  one, 
but  when  it  is  said  that  even  in  this  small  city  $15,000 
was  taken  in,  it  is  amazing  to  those  who  know  what 
this  means,  but  "Ben-Hur"  has  achieved  this  record  in 
that  city  twice  within  a  few  years. 

Next  to  "Ben-Hur"  the  greatest  and  most  sustain- 
ing vogue  was  that  which  the  late  Denman  Thompson 
in  "The  Old  Homestead"  had  recorded.  This  attrac- 
tion has  drawn  $30,000  in  a  week  at  the  Boston  Thea- 
tre and  almost  as  much  at  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Music.  Another  play  of  this  calibre  to  draw  the  people 
year  after  year  without  diminution  in  receipts  as  yet, 
is  "In  Old  Kentucky,"  which  has  already  made  for  its 
management  over  a  million  dollars. 

David  Warfield  on  his  several  tours  of  the  country 
in  "The  Music  Master"  often  played  to  $25,000  a  week 
and  as  high  as  $4,500  in  one  night.  Sothern  and  Mar- 
lowe, although  in  recent  years  they  have  appeared  at 
$1.50  for  the  best  seats,  have  frequently  drawn  as  much* 
as  $25,000  in  a  week.  "Madame  Sherry"  has  averaged 
$18,000  a  week,  and  the  same  record  was  achieved  by 
"The  Merry  Widow,"  while  on  tour  even  larger  totals 
were  recorded. 

Maude  Adams  draws  about  the  same  in  all  her 
productions.  It  is  an  ordinary  matter  for  her  to  draw 
a  $4,000  house  in  a  one-night  stand  at  regular  prices. 
Miss  Adams  has  often  played  to  $20,000  in  a  single 
week. 

"The  Dollar  Princess"  drew  $20,000  a  week  to  the 
Knickerbocker  Theatre,  New  York,  and  rarely  took  in 
much  less. 


ITS C&e    S>tage    in   tfre 

In  the  Spring  of  1910  when  Mr.  Stotesbury  of  Phila- 
delphia personally  assumed  all  of  the  responsibility  for 
the  remaining  weeks  of  Mr.  Hammerstein's  season  of 
opera  in  the  Quaker  City,  the  announcement  attracted 
much  attention,  for  the  spectacle  of  a  single  individual 
making  good  weekly  deficits  amounting  to  $40,000  in 
all  was  indeed  a  novel  one.  Mr.  Stotesbury's  benefac- 
tions did  not,  however,  cease  here,  for  in  the  arrange- 
ments perfected  in  1911  by  which  a  number  of  wealthy 
and  public-spirited  gentlemen  assumed  complete  con- 
trol of  the  opera  houses  in  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Boston  and  Chicago,  Mr.  Stotesbury  not  only  bought 
the  magnificent  opera  house  in  Philadelphia  from  Mr. 
Hammerstein,  but  he  is  now  the  mainstay  of  the  opera 
seasons  in  that  city. 

The  season  of  1911-12  has  been  a  noteworthy  one, 
in  that  for  the  first  time  within  the  memory  of  the 
writer,  grand  opera  has  been  given  on  a  scale  of  un- 
precedented lavishness,  and  yet  free  from  all  discord, 
with  the  old-time  impresario  and  his  vicissitudes  wholly 
eliminated,  perhaps  for  all  time.  The  part  played  by 
the  gentlemen  now  responsible  for  our  most  costly 
musical  entertainment  has  been  far  more  important 
than  is  generally  known;  the  public  response  to  the 
Boston  Symphony  Orchestra's  efforts  did  not  come 
until  long  after  Henry  Higginson  had  expended  a 
fortune  with  no  possible  thought  of  profit  or  even 
that  his  large  outlay  would  be  appreciated.  Henry 
C.  Frick  maintained  the  Pittsburg  Symphony  Orchestra 
for  years,  continuing  his  contributions  long  after  the 
enterprise  had  been  placed  upon  a  substantial  basis. 
But  for  irksome  dissensions  in  the  orchestra  itself,  this 


Ctoentietfr    Centutg 179 

organization  would  to-day  rank  with  any  in  the 
country. 

Andrew  Carnegie  built  two  magnificent  auditoriums 
in  New  York  and  Pittsburg,  for  musical  endeavor,  and 
he  has  contributed  immense  sums  for  the  perpetuation 
of  these  and  for  all  educational  institutions,  particularly 
those  having  to  do  with  classical  music.  Recently 
Charles  M.  Schwab  desired  to  lease  the  opera  house  in 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  for  concerts  to  be  given  by  a  body  of 
musicians  organized  among  the  employees  in  his  steel 
works.  Mr.  Schwab  felt  an  interest  in  the  efforts  of 
this  band,  to  such  an  extent  that  when  he  sought  to 
lease  the  opera  house  upon  a  rental  basis,  the  local 
manager  demanded  a  percentage  of  the  gross  receipts, 
which  so  angered  Mr.  Schwab  that  he  actually  bought 
the  entire  building  at  an  outlay  of  nearly  $100,000  in 
order  to  protect  the  organization  in  which  he  felt  in- 
terested. 

As  these  lines  are  being  written,  an  evening  news- 
paper through  its  proprietor  has  taken  up  the  exploit- 
ation of  the  young  Russian  pianist,  Leo  Ornstein. 
Under  ordinary  conditions  his  debut  would  entail  an 
outlay  of  $1,000,  and  even  then  he  would  attract  little 
or  no  interest  at  a  concert  hall,  but  in  this  age  of  public 
spirit  a  most  ennobling  plan  was  arranged.  The  paper 
in  question  began  to  devote  its  most  conspicuous  col- 
umns to  lengthy  editorials,  making  a  general  plea  to 
the  public  to  become  interested  in  this  boy's  career; 
the  wording  of  the  editorials  was  beautiful,  not  to  say 
compelling.  Messrs.  Klaw  and  Erlanger,  heads  of  the 
theatrical  syndicate,  were  appealed  to  and  they  gave 
gratis  the  New  Amsterdam  Theatre,  paying  out  of 
their  own  pockets  every  dollar  of  the  expenses  of  the 


180 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfre 

concert.  Otto  H.  Kahn  paid  $200.00  for  a  box.  One 
man  took  one  hundred  seats  and  gave  them  away. 
Others  paid  large  premiums  for  their  seats  and  boxes, 
also  lending  their  distinguished  presence  to  enhance 
the  eventful  affair.  The  result  of  so  many  persons 
striving  to  achieve  a  vogue  for  a  poor  foreign  student, 
whose  parents  are  so  poor  that  his  studies  have  al- 
most impoverished  them,  could  only  be  of  a  wholly  con- 
structive order.  Leo  Ornstein  is  already  famous;  his 
future  is  assured,  yet  but  for  the  good  luck  he  had  in 
being  presented  to  the  public  in  so  unique  and  worthy 
a  manner,  he  might  have  taken  several  years  to  reach 
his  present  status,  if  indeed  he  could  have  survived  the 
preliminaries  ordinarily  encountered  by  struggling  be- 
ginners. 

Two  gentlemen  of  Greenwich,  Conn.,  Dr.  J.  E.  Bow- 
man and  Commodore  Benedict,  have  provided  a  former 
employee  of  the  first-named  with  every  facility  for  an 
artistic  career.  The  beneficiary  in  this  instance  is  a 
young  man,  Thure  Grunland  by  name,  who  will  assume 
the  nom  de  theatre  of  Tureo.  During  the  past  year  he 
has  been  under  tuition  in  New  York,  where  he 
has  attracted  the  attention  of  several  distinguished  art- 
ists who  have  predicted  a  career  of  distinction  for  him. 
The  young  man  now  is  abroad  studying  under  Jean 
de  Reszke.  The  entire  cost  of  this  procedure  is  de- 
frayed by  Messrs.  Bowman  and  Benedict,  who  have 
acted  in  a  spirit  of  genuine  appreciation  of  the  young 
man's  gifts,  and  wholly  free  from  any  ostentation;  in 
fact,  they  have  been  bitterly  opposed  to  any  publicity 
in  the  matter;  even  advising  their  protege  to  refrain 
absolutely  from  anything  calculated  to  make  him  con- 
spicuous until  he  has  been  found  ready  to  make  his 


Ctoentieti)    Centurg m 

operatic  debut,  when  it  is  confidently  expected  hii 
name  will  be  one  to  conjure  with. 

In  the  first  two  years  of  the  New  Theatre  a  body  of 
gentlemen,  who  had  already  expended  three  million 
dollars  to  erect  the  magnificent  playhouse,  have  had 
also  to  meet  deficits  amounting  to  $400,000,  yet 
they  by  no  means  became  discouraged.  The  New 
Theatre  has  had  to  stand  a  lot  of  blame  from  an  archi- 
tectural point  of  view,  which  really  is  but  a  cloak  to 
hide  an  era  of  mismanagement.  If  the  acoustics  of  this 
establishment  are  deficient,  it  is  certainly  strange  that 
every  commercial  manager  has  been  bidding  for  posses- 
sion of  it,  ever  since  the  announcement  of  a  change. 
It  was  possible  to  hear  distinctly  so  quiet  and  delicate 
a  player  as  E.  M.  Holland.  However,  the  story  as  to 
why  the  New  Theatre  did  not  prosper  is  not  for  recital 
here.  We  may  not  have  to  wait  long  for  it,  and  when 
it  comes,  an  amazing  spectacle  of  public  spirit,  handi- 
capped by  greed  of  theatrical  men,  will  be  exposed  to 
public  view. 

The  present  writer  has  referred  to  the  New  Theatre 
and  its  affairs  merely  to  indicate  the  part  being  played 
by  such  men  as  William  K.  Vanderbilt,  Otto  H.  Kahn, 
Clarence  Mackay  and  their  colleagues,  who  besides 
financing  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  and  solving 
for  the  first  time  the  problems  of  grand  opera,  have 
endeavored  to  create  an  institution  of  the  drama  along 
artistic  lines. 

It  does  not  seem  so  very  long  ago  that  any  effort 
to  organize  a  body  of  theatre-goers  met  with  disaster. 
The  "theatre  party"  consisted  perhaps  of  a  score  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  having  dined  together  would 
adjourn  to  some  playhouse.  The  theatrical  manager 


182 Cfrg    S>tagc    in    tfre 

was  unable  to  count  on  any  sustained  following,  nor 
was  he  in  a  position  to  cultivate  by  reason  of  an  artistic 
appeal  with  his  stage  offerings  any  substantial  organ- 
ized patronage  for  his  plays,  but  all  this  is  changed 
now.  In  New  York  we  have  the  People's  Institute  and 
the  MacDowell  Club,  two  constantly  growing  bodies 
of  actual  theatre-goers,  whose  influence  is  already  so 
great  that  they  can  provide  audiences  for  plays  of  true 
worth,  and  while  they  condemn  nothing,  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  an  embargo  on  salacious  plays  by  so  large 
and  constant  an  organization  of  playgoers  must  have 
had  much  to  do  with  the  practical  disappearance  from 
the  New  York  boards  of  such  offerings  as  "The  Girl 
from  Rector's,"  "The  Girl  with  the  Whooping  Cough," 
and  the  like,  for  after  all,  the  commercial  manager's 
policy  is  created  by  his  audiences. 

But  the  real  pioneer  movement  in  this  field  and  the 
most  remarkable  demonstration  of  an  uplifting  char- 
acter is  that  which  was  founded  in  Evanston,  a  suburb 
of  Chicago.  It  is  called  "The  Drama  League"  and 
grew  out  of  an  informal  little  circle  of  Evanston  women 
in  the  home  of  Mrs.  Harrison  B.  Riley  to  read  plays. 
The  circle  became  so  large  that  the  Drama  Club  was 
founded.  It  met  in  churches,  in  the  University  Library 
and  steadily  waxed  in  membership.  To-day  it  has  an 
affiliation  of  over  15,000,  some  of  it  composed  of  indi- 
viduals, more  of  it  comprising  clubs,  libraries,  and  col- 
leges. Its  work  extends  as  far  west  as  Los  Angeles, 
where  recently  a  body  of  1,000  members  influenced  by 
William  Faversham,  the  actor,  who  had  addressed 
them,  joined  the  league.  It  is  expected  that  the  mem- 
bership will  reach  100,000  within  the  second  decade  of 
the  Twentieth  Century  and  that  its  influence  will  be  so 


Ctoentiett)    Centutp isa 

vast  and  compelling  that  it  will  be  enabled  to  provide 
audiences  for  plays  all  over  the  country,  plays  pure 
in  nature,  educational  in  theme,  and  yet  entertaining. 
The  league  is  not  for  the  radical  drama.  It  does  not 
seek  to  encourage  patronage  for  plays  that  will  go 
"over  the  heads"  of  its  members,  but  it  surely  does 
favor  the  works  of  authors,  native  or  foreign,  which 
sound  a  true  note  and  depict  the  human  life.  It  does 
not,  and  it  never  will,  censor  plays.  Its  president,  Mrs. 
A.  Starr  Best,  and  one  of  its  founders,  lives  in  Evans- 
ton,  and  she  has  found  her  office  no  sinecure  for  the 
league  has  had  to  survive  some  mistakes,  but  to-day  it 
stands  as  the  most  vivid  illustration  of  progress  in 
play-going. 

The  age  of  public  spirit  also  finds  a  superior  class  of 
local  managers  in  charge  of  the  artistic  events  of  a 
nation ;  no  longer  does  one  have  to  go  to  the  shoemaker 
to  greet  the  janitor-manager,  who  held  sway  for  so  long 
a  period.  In  every  city  in  this  enlightened  era,  there 
is  at  least  one  impresario  who  assumes  charge  of  the 
entourage  of  visiting  artists  of  a  high  grade — usually, 
too,  he  is  attracted  to  his  occupation  by  a  love  of  music. 

*    *    * 

At  the  age  of  twenty-six  Mabel  Wilber,  the  viva- 
cious, fascinating,  bewitching  and  seductive  "Merry 
Widow"  of  to-day,  the  youngest  prima  donna  who  has 
ever  sung  the  role,  is  accounted  by  the  critics  as  the 
best  of  the  several  divas  who  have  played  the  part  in 
America.  Miss  Wilber  was  born  in  Lockport.  Her 
first  public  appearance  was  made  there,  when  she  was 
nine  years  of  age. 

Her  next  appearance  was  made  the  following  year 
at  the  Washington  Rink  in  that  city,  when  Charlie 


184 Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

Abercrombie,  then  a  local  singing  instructor,  organ- 
ized the  Children's  Choral  Society  of  two  hundred 
voices,  and  with  prophetic  judgment  selected  Miss 
Wilber  from  his  entire  enrollment  as  soloist.  As  Miss 
Wilber  grew  older  her  voice  developed  and  when  she 
was  sixteen  years  old  the  Wilbur-Kirwin  Opera  Com- 
pany came  to  Rochester  for  a  short  repertoire  season. 

Struck  by  the  rich  quality  of  her  voice,  the  players 
arranged  for  an  appointment  with  Susie  Kirwin,  prima 
donna  of  the  opera  company,  to  hear  Miss  Wilber  sing. 
The  result  was  that  Miss  Kirwin  immediately  inter- 
viewed Miss  Wilber's  parents  and  gained  their  con- 
sent to  Mabel's  appearance  with  the  chorus  of  that 
organization  during  its  local  season.  She  remained 
with  the  Wilbur-Kirwin  organization  for  two  years, 
during  which  time  she  sang  sixty  leading  parts  in 
popular  comic  operas. 

She  later  joined  H.  W.  Savage  and  was  given  a  small 
role  in  the  "Sultan  of  Sulu,"  whence  she  was  subse- 
quently transferred  to  the  "Prince  of  Pilsen."  When 
the  "Prince  of  Pilsen"  invaded  England,  Mr.  Savage 
selected  Miss  Wilber  as  one  of  the  company,  and  she 
played  for  six  months  in  London.  Returning  to  Amer- 
ica, she  was  engaged  by  DeWolf  Hopper  as  his  prima 
donna  in  "Happyland,"  and  after  a  year  with  this  pro- 
duction she  appeared  as  prima  donna  with  Richard 
Golden  in  "The  Tourist."  She  next  played  in  "The 
Song  Birds,"  a  vaudeville  skit  burlesqueing  the  grand 
opera  rivalry  of  Heinrich  Conried  and  Oscar  Hammer- 
stein. 

After  the  engagement  she  returned  under  the  direc- 
tion of  H.  W.  Savage  and  was  assigned  to  "The  Merry 
Widow."  Her  success  in  this  was  so  decided  that  Mr. 


( 


MABEL    WILBER 


FLORENCE    REED  \  ^  LA*C^RX 

Accomplished   Artists   Now   in   Public  Eye. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 185 

Savage  placed  her  at  the  head  of  this  picked  organiza- 
tion, which  is  making  a  transcontinental  tour  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco. 

Miss  Wilber  was  married  in  February,  1912,  to  Madi- 
son Corey,  treasurer  and  general  manager  of  Henry  W. 
Savage,  Incorporated.  As  Mr.  Corey  is  one  of  the 
young  theatrical  managers  for  whom  a  big  future  is 
predicted,  and  as  Miss  Wilber  undoubtedly  possesses 
rare  dramatic  and  vocal  ability,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  her  future  is  to  be  one  of  high  distinction. 

•$•    •$•«!• 

Miss  Lilly  Dorn,  soprano,  touring  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  the  Middle  West  this  season,  is  well  known  in 
European  music  centres  and  has  enjoyed  two  years 
on  the  operatic  and  concert  stage  of  America.  Miss 
Dorn  is  well  acquainted  with  the  modern  school  of 
Vienna  and  German  composers,  as  well  as  of  classical 
compositions.  She  is  one  of  the  best  exponents  of  the 
Oscar  Strauss  operetta  roles,  and  has  been  recognized 
as  a  lieder  singer  of  note  both  in  Europe  and  America. 

Miss  Dorn  has  an  attractive  personality,  and  is  the 
possessor  of  that  indescribable  feminine  attribute 
known  as  "charm."  Her  voice,  of  great  beauty,  is  of 
the  soprano  type  and  she  is  one  of  the  most  perfect 
enunciators  of  German  diction,  as  well  as  singing  Eng- 
lish, Italian  and  French  compositions  in  a  most 
delightful  manner. 

The  German  compositions  she  interprets  in  a  most 
superior  manner,  being  well  acquainted  with  the  ideas 
of  the  composers,  with  many  of  whom  she  is  per- 
sonally acquainted,  and  from  whom  in  several  in- 


186  _  Cfte    g>tagc    in    tfte 

stances  she  has  received  personal  instruction  in  the 
interpretation  of  their  works. 

Miss  Dorn  has  spent  over  one  year  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  occasionally  visiting  Chicago,  where  she  sings 
for  Mrs.  Richard  T.  Crane,  and  the  Fortnightly  Club. 
In  addition  to  these  concerts  she  was  heard  in  a  series 
of  musical  events  in  Toledo,  Detroit,  Saginaw  and 
Fort  Wayne.  She  has  been  soloist  this  season  with 
the  Denver  Symphony  Orchestra  under  Cavallo;  the 
Los  Angeles  Symphony  Orchestra,  under  Harley 
Hamilton,  and  will  be  heard  in  several  other  pro- 
grammes of  similar  nature  in  the  Middle  West  and  the 
West.  Her  programmes  are  well  known  in  the  draw- 
ing rooms  of  Prague  and  Berlin,  and  she  has  made  a 
reputation  in  concerts  given  before  the  Saturday  Club 
of  Sacramento,  the  Fresno  Musical  Club,  the  Amphion 
Club  of  San  Diego,  and  the  Twentieth  Century  Club 
of  Reno,  together  with  recent  successes  before  the 
schools  of  music  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  in  concert 
with  Harriett  Ware,  in  the  East. 


California  has  played  a  vital  part  in  the  great  prog- 
ress which  has  come  to  the  field  of  the  theatre,  and 
this  is  true  not  only  of  the  present  but  of  past  achieve- 
ments. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  money  brought  to  New  York 
by  Al.  Hayman  from  the  Pacific  Coast  was  the  means 
of  creating  the  present  so-called  theatrical  syndicate. 
Moreover,  it  was  Mr.  Hayman  who  started  Charles 
Frohman  on  his  long  and  unexampled  career. 

Even  before  Hayman's  advent  M.  B.  Leavitt,  by 


•„••« 


Ctoentietf)    Centurp  187 

reason  of  his  prosperity  at  the  Bush  Street  Theatre  in 
San  Francisco,  was  able  to  establish  the  first  coast  to 
coast  theatrical  circuit,  and  only  ill-health  prevented 
Leavitt  from  being  the  central  figure  in  the  amusement 
world  for  all  his  days. 

When  William  A.  Brady  came  to  New  York  from 
California,  little  was  known  of  him.  His  fame  as  an 
actor  on  the  coast  was  not  great ;  while,  as  a  manager, 
he  was  best  known  for  his  association  with  Joseph 
Grismer  and  Phoebe  Davies.  Grismer  is  now  a  million- 
aire, and  has  always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
discerning  and  competent  actor-managers  this  country 
has  ever  known. 

Brady  himself  has  been  the  wonder  of  what  is 
known  as  "the  Great  White  Way."  His  operations 
have  always  shown  an  intrepidity  and  expert  show- 
manship that  have  known  no  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  stage.  Starting  with  an  old  melodrama,  "After 
Dark,"  which  had  never  been  potent,  he  aroused  the 
public  to  such  an  extent  that  the  play  became  a  stand- 
ard attraction  for  years  afterward,  and  Brady  estab- 
lished himself  at  once  as  an  entrepreneur  of  quality. 

Brady  and  Grismer  have  been  partners,  but  not  in  all 
of  their  enterprises.  The  latter,  however,  has  been 
fortunate  in  that  he  has  been  the  associate  of  Brady  in 
his  most  compelling  attractions,  such  as  "Way  Down 
East,"  which  has  earned  more  than  a  million  dollars, 
and  "The  Man  of  the  Hour."  On  the  other  hand, 
Brady  alone  controls  "Baby  Mine,"  a  farce-comedy  ap- 
proaching its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  performance  in 
New  York,  and  now  being  played  by  at  least  a  dozen 
companies  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  This  one 
play  will  bring  Brady  at  least  a  million  dollars  in  the 


188 Cfte    Stage    in    ttu 

next  three  or  four  years.  "Bought  and  Paid  For,"  a 
recent  Brady  production,  is  even  more  successful  and 
it  also  has  the  added  element  of  longevity. 

Brady  took  hold  of  Robert  Mantell  when  that  splen- 
did actor  was  at  the  crucial  period  of  his  career.  In 
fact,  Mantell  had  already  found  it  necessary  to  appear 
in  vaudeville,  and  his  compensation  in  that  field  did 
not  indicate  that  his  services  were  in  very  great  de- 
mand, but  in  Brady's  hands  Mantell  has  become  the 
'representative  tragic  actor  of  the  day,  and  his  tours 
are  now  immensely  profitable.  That  Brady  should 
make  a  potent  star  of  his  wife  (Grace  George)  aston- 
ished no  one,  although  there  is  no  record  of  any  such 
achievement  in  stage  history,  and  if  it  were  a  simple 
matter  for  a  manager  to  create  a  star  by  his  efforts, 
then  the  wives  of  several  competent  managers  have 
cause  for  much  complaint. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  last  year  that  Brady  has  shown 
us  the  kind  of  manager  that  California  delivers.  He 
always  claimed  that  he  was  handicapped  by  his  affilia- 
tion with  the  syndicate,  and  when  a  year  ago  he  broke 
away  and  identified  himself  with  the  Shuberts  and 
their  "open  door,"  he  extended  his  operations,  until 
he  is  at  this  time  perhaps  the  most  interesting  and 
surely  one  of  the  most  active  figures  in  theatredom. 
Brady's  first  theatre,  "The  Playhouse,"  was  inaugu- 
rated by  Grace  George  in  a  new  play,  an  event  which 
was  made  much  of  by  Californians  living  in  New 
York. 

Another  tremendous  figure  in  theatrical  progress, 
though  his  modesty  prevents  his  being  as  conspicuous 
as  his  achievements  deserve,  is  Morris  Meyerfeld, 
head  of  the  vast  Orpheum  circuit.  Here  we  have  a 


Ctoentietfr    Centutp 189 

man  who,  when  he  comes  to  New  York,  it  is  difficult 
to  find,  while  any  effort  to  make  him  talk  of  himself  is 
always  unavailing.  "The  public  is  interested  in  our 
theatres  and  in  the  artists  we  engage,  but  surely 
not  interested  in  us,'*  was  Mr.  Meyerfeld's  response  to 
one  of  the  writer's  questions.  And  yet  Morris  Meyer- 
feld  has  accomplished  more  in  the  last  twelve  years 
than  any  man  in  America  for  what  is  called  "western 
vaudeville."  When  he  came  into  the  field,  the  Or- 
pheum  circuit  consisted  of  two  theatres,  one  in  San 
Francisco,  the  other  in  Los  Angeles.  To-day  it  is  the 
largest  and  most  important  business  institution  in  the 
vaudeville  world.  The  Orpheum  Company  to-day 
owns  outright  at  least  a  dozen  palatial  theatres,  with  a 
value  close  to  eight  millions  of  dollars,  while  it  holds 
long  leases  on  as  many  more,  the  equity  in  which  is 
worth  millions. 

Mr.  Meyerfeld  is  known  all  over  the  world  as  one  of 
the  most  charming,  kindly  men  theatricals  ever  could 
boast  of.  He  would  never  be  taken  for  a  showman, 
and  his  demeanor  is  that  of  a  banker.  The  Orpheum 
circuit  is  conceded  to  be  the  model  business  organi- 
zation. To  appear  in  its  theatres  is  the  goal  of  every 
performer.  The  programmes  are  always  a  shade  more 
artistic  than  in  the  eastern  theatres,  and  Mr.  Meyer- 
feld will  always  try  to  include  some  great  musical 
feature — even  if  the  price  is  prohibitive.  If  public 
spirit  prevails  anywhere  in  theatredom,  it  is  in  the 
conduct  of  this  tremendous  chain  of  theatres,  and  if 
the  people  of  California  do  not  know  how  their  insti- 
tution is  regarded  not  only  in  the  East,  but  in  every 
part  of  Latin  Europe,  it  is  only  necessary  to  follow  the 
voyages  of  Mr.  Meyerfeld,  and  his  general  manager, 


190 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

Martin  Beck,  who,  as  they  visit  the  great  cities  of 
the  world  in  quest  of  attractions,  are  received  with 
such  distinction  and  dignity  that  one  might  mistake 
them  for  mighty  potentates. 

The  greatest  aim  of  the  high-grade  vaudevillian  is 
the  possession  of  an  Orpheum  contract,  and  this  is  so 
true  that  some  of  the  most  distinguished  stars  from 
the  legitimate  stage,  and  even  of  grand  opera,  are 
tempted  to  make  the  excursion  into  vaudeville,  feeling 
certain  that  the  plunge  can  be  taken  with  grace  and 
dignity,  and  it  is  not  only  the  increased  honorarium 
which  is  their  incentive,  for  the  reputation  of  the  Or- 
pheum circuit  is  as  great  for  the  uniform  courtesy  and 
kindness  to  the  player  as  it  is  for  its  financial  integrity. 

Mr.  Meyerfeld  has  never  deviated  from  the  original 
policy  of  paying  transportation  for  all  who  travel  over 
the  circuit,  though  this  was  done  at  the  outset  because 
the  artists  had  to  travel  across  the  continent  in  order 
to  appear  four  weeks  in  the  two  theatres,  and  now  that 
they  are  able  to  tender  contracts  for  almost  an  entire 
season,  this  prince  of  theatrical  men  continues  to  pay 
the  transportation,  and  that  is  true  of  no  other  man- 
agement in  the  world. 

The  fame  of  the  Orpheum  is  so  great  that  the  utmost 
interest  is  felt  now  by  New  York  theatre-goers,  and 
by  the  public  press  in  the  occasional  announcements 
to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Meyerfeld  will  in  due  course  es- 
tablish an  Orpheum  in  New  York  City.  Mr.  Beck, 
acting  for  his  superior,  offered  to  buy  the  Manhattan 
Opera  House  in  that  city  recently  for  one  million  dol- 
lars, and  though  this  did  not  result  in  the  addition  of 
the  home  of  opera  to  the  vaudeville  circuit,  no  one 
doubts  that  the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  an  Orpheum 


THE    ORPHEUM    THEATRE,    SAN    FRANCISCO,    CAL. 


INTERIOR    OF    THE    ORPHEUM    THEATRE,    CHICAGO 

Illustrating    Eye    Comfort,    Indirect    Lighting    Units    which    Remain    with    Lamps    Burning 
During   Display   of   Pictures. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg IQI 

Theatre  sign  will  blaze  electrically  on  the  "Great 
White  Way."  Since  the  above  was  written  the  new 
Palace  Theatre,  in  New  York  City,  is  being  erected  by 
Messrs.  Meyerfeld  and  Beck. 

Reference  to  the  achievements  of  California  per- 
sonages in  this  field  would  not  be  complete  without  a 
tribute  to  the  dean  of  managers  and  greatest  living 
exponent  of  stage  craft,  David  Belasco,  who,  year  after 
year,  adds  to  his  fame,  producing  only  plays  that  ap- 
peal, and  whose  efforts  are  constantly  being  lauded  all 
over  the  world.  Belasco's  greatest  force  is  his  ability 
to  pick,  and  afterward  create,  stars  who  endure  for 
all  time.  It  does  not  seem  so  long  ago  that  David 
Warfield  was  an  usher  in  a  San  Francisco  theatre,  and 
it  is  not  over  a  decade  ago  that  he  appeared  at  Keith's 
Union  Square  .Theatre,  doing  three  turns  a  day,  for 
which  he  was  paid  seventy-five  dollars  a  week.  Mr. 
Keith  has  since  offered  him  five  thousand  dollars  a 
week,  and  the  offer  was,  of  course,  refused,  for  War- 
field  is  to-day  the  greatest  attraction  of  the  stage  in 
this  country. 

A  few  years  ago  Frances  Starr  was  playing  in  an 
obscure  stock  company.  Her  salary  was  thirty  dollars 
a  week  and  she  had  to  do  the  hardest  kind  of  work. 
Belasco  saw  her  play  once,  and  decided  she  was  the 
right  sort  of  "star"  timber,  so  he  became  responsible 
for  her  future  career,  with  a  result  that  is  now  history. 

Blanche  Bates  is  another  Belasco  star,  whose  great- 
est success  was  achieved  at  the  Hudson  Theatre, 
where,  in  "Nobody's  Widow,"  for  nearly  five  months, 
she  packed  that  house  to  the  doors. 

Belasco's  productions  are  always  beyond  all  criti- 
cism. In  1909  he  took  charge  of  another  California 


192 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfte 

idol,  Nance  O'Neil,  and  in  "The  Lily"  provided  her 
with  a  character  which  she  created  with  such  distinc- 
tion that  she  is  now  referred  to  as  the  "Greater  Nance 
O'Neil." 

Mr.  Belasco  is  not  responsible  for  the  many  ground- 
less reports  of  his  quarrels  with  Mrs.  Carter,  a  great 
actress  whom  he  struggled  with  successfully  in  a 
period  of  their  careers  when  all  was  not  as  propitious 
as  now,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  either  of  them  feels  any 
bitterness  toward  the  other.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  Mrs.  Carter  has  never  failed  to  accord  to  Belasco 
all  possible  credit  for  her  artistic  development,  and, 
after  all,  that  is  all  the  public  is  interested  in  knowing. 

California  possesses  at  least  one  local  impresario  who 
is  not  without  what  is  called  public  spirit,  a  quality 
one  does  not  find  often  in  the  field  of  music  and  the 
drama.  Reference  is  made  to  E.  L.  Behymer,  of  Los 
Angeles,  who  has  been  known  more  than  once  to  sug- 
gest to  the  powers  that  be  in  New  York  musical  affairs 
that  they  add  a  little  to  the  price  that  he  shall  pay  for 
a  great  symphony  orchestra  or  for  a  compelling  vocal 
celebrity,  in  order  that  some  smaller  locality  may  be 
enabled  to  enjoy  a  musical  treat  at  so  much  less.  He 
has  also  contributed  generously  to  the  endeavors  of 
many  of  California's  musical  institutions.  Moreover, 
it  is  greatly  due  to  this  man's  efforts  that  the  Pacific 
Coast  tours  of  so  many  worthy  and  famous  musical 
organizations  meet  with  such  colossal  results  finan- 
cially, although  it  is  not  on  record  that  Mr.  Behymer 
himself  has  prospered  to  any  notable  extent.  Here  we 
have  a  man  who  will  write  to  the  manager  of  a  great 
singer,  who  had  asked  his  advice,  to  say  that  while  he 
would  be  glad  to  accept  the  local  management  (offered 


Ctoentiett)    Centutg 193 

to  Behymer  with  no  risk  on  his  part),  it  was  his  duty 
to  inform  the  manager  in  question  that  the  outlook 
was  not  the  best,  owing  to  the  frequency  of  musical 
events. 

This  is  a  mode  of  procedure  so  strikingly  in  contrast 
to  the  customary  methods  of  men  who  care  only  for 
their  own  personal  welfare  that  it  surely  is  worth  the 
telling. 

In  New  York,  the  results  achieved  in  California  for 
practically  all  of  the  great  musical  enterprises  are 
regarded  with  amazement,  and  if  the  figures  were  re- 
tailed, the  entire  country  would  look  askance  at  the 
remarkable  outcome  from  a  box  office  viewpoint. 


194 


CHAPTER  XI 

San  Francisco,  before  the  fire,  enjoyed  a  number  of 
theatrical  landmarks  whose  stages,  lobbies,  and  green 
rooms  had  known  the  greatest  of  the  early  Thespians. 
The  old  California  Theatre,  the  Baldwin,  the  Grand 
Opera  House,  the  old  Alcazar,  and  the  Tivoli  had  seen 
many  vicissitudes  and  many  triumphs,  but  they  were 
all  wiped  out  and  within  one  year  temporary  shacks 
and  cheaply  built  theatres  took  their  places.  Now  a 
new  era  in  the  drama,  as  well  as  music,  has  found  its 
way  into  San  Francisco;  the  master  hand  of  the 
present  in  this  unique  city  as  well  as  dominating  the 
West,  is  John  Cort,  and  so  the  Cort  Theatre  is  the 
centre  of  dramatic  endeavor,  followed  closely  by  the 
Columbia  Theatre,  under  the  management  of  Gottloeb 
and  Marx,  the  representatives  of  the  Klaw  &  Erlanger 
syndicate. 

In  addition  to  the  Cort  Theatre,  the  Savoy  Theatre 
is  under  the  John  Cort  direction.  The  Orpheum  cir- 
cuit possesses  a  veritable  palace  in  which  to  house  its 
San  Francisco  admirers.  A  new  Alcazar  is  being  built, 
and  as  soon  as  finished  will  be  under  the  direction  of 
Frederick  Belasco.  The  Valencia  Theatre  is  the  home 
of  grand  opera  and  concert.  The  Empress  is  the  seat 
of  activities  for  Sullivan  &  Considine.  The  Pantages 
circuit  has  a  new  and  beautiful  house,  while  the  old 
Central,  the  Garrick,  the  Princess,  the  Novelty  form  a 
line  of  appeal  to  those  who  like  popular-priced  drama, 
comedy  and  vaudeville. 


C  to  e  n  t  i  e  1 6    Centutg 195 

In  addition  to  these  houses  may  be  found  dozens  of 
cheaper  theatres,  too  numerous  to  mention,  while 
every  cafe  has  a  chantant  and  vaudeville  entertain- 
ment. The  headquarters  of  the  Meyerfeld  &  Beck 
Orpheum  circuit  was  first  conceived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  here  are  the  main  offices  of  the  associa- 
tion. 

W.  H.  Leahy,  owner  and  manager  of  the  old  Tivoli, 
and  manager  of  Luisa  Tetrazzini,  has  plans  and  the 
iron  work  already  out  for  a  new  opera  house,  to  be 
known  as  the  Tivoli  Grand,  which  will  surpass  when 
finished,  January,  1913,  any  opera  house  on  the  con- 
tinent. San  Francisco  has  always  been  called  a  great 
"show"  town,  and  in  connection  with  the  bay  cities, 
Oakland,  Berkeley  and  Alameda,  caters  to  practically 
three-quarters  of  a  million  people. 

The  Alcazar  Theatre  is  the  only  stock  house  in  San 
Francisco,  but  across  the  bay  in  Oakland  is  found 
Harry  Bishop's  beautiful  stock  house,  Ye  Liberty 
Theatre.  Harry  Bishop  is  a  half  brother  to  Oliver 
Morosco,  of  Los  Angeles.  The  MacDonough  Theatre, 
of  Oakland,  is  a  combination  house,  managed  by  F.  A. 
Giesea.  In  Berkeley  is  situated  the  wonderful  Greek 
Theatre,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  over  six  thousand, 
erected  by  Mrs.  Phoebe  Hearst  and  given  to  the  Uni- 
versity for  which  she  has  made  so  many  sacrifices,  and 
which  will  be  a  monument  to  her  name. 

San  Francisco  has  always  been  known  as  the  theatri- 
cal town  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  although  Los  Angeles 
seems  to  now  be  the  leader  in  this  respect.  The  musical 
life  of  San  Francisco  is  in  the  hands  of  William  L. 
Greenbaum,  handling  the  grand  opera  engagements, 
the  recital  stars,  and  the  local  symphony  orchestra, 


196 C6e    Stage-  fit    tfie 

an  organization  under  the  direction  of  Henry  Hadley. 
Manager  Greenbaum  also  has  the  musical  control  of 
Berkeley  and  Oakland,  the  remainder  of  the  West  be- 
ing given  over  to  L.  E.  Behymer,  of  Los  Angeles. 

The  press  of  San  Francisco  is  a  unit  in  promoting 
dramatic  and  musical  affairs;  the  Musical  Review 
of  that  city,  published  by  Alfred  Metzger,  has  per- 
sistently and  unselfishly  labored  for  artistic  uplift. 

For  twenty-five  years  Los  Angeles  has  been  the 
home  of  dramatic  and  musical  stock  companies.  It 
was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  that  William  A.  Brady 
formed  a  partnership  known  as  the  Webster  &  Brady 
Stock  Company,  playing  in  old  Hazard's  Pavilion, 
and  where  Webster  painted  the  scenery  and  Brady 
dramatized  the  story  of  Ryder  Haggard's  "She,"  and 
the  first  production  was  given  with  Laura  Biggar  as 
Ustane.  Since  that  time  many  stock  companies  have 
nestled  for  a  while  and  then  migrated  onward.  The 
old  Fred  Cooper  Stock  at  the  Burbank,  the  Leonard 
Grover  Stock  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  Tim  Frawley 
at  the  Burbank,  and  the  A.  Y.  Pearson  Melodramatic 
Stock  were  features  of  delight,  success  and  failure. 

Then  came  the  Burbank  Stock  under  Oliver  Mo- 
rosco,  a  most  successful  idea;  the  Belasco  Stock  Com- 
pany at  the  Belasco  Theatre,  under  Blackwood  and 
Morosco;  the  Ferris  Hartmann  Musical  Stock  Com- 
pany at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  together  with  several 
permanent  musical  comedy  and  melodrama  organi- 
zations at  the  Princess,  the  Olympic,  the  Novelty,  the 
Empire  and  the  Walker  Theatres;  all  enjoying  pros- 
perity and  artistic  success. 

John  Cort's  companies  and  Cohan  &  Harris  give  Los 
Angeles  all  their  try-outs  for  there  is  a  difference  be- 


Ctocntietft    Centutg 197 

tween  that  city's  theatricals  and  all  the  rest.  The  two 
stock  companies  in  Los  Angeles  are  not  stock  com- 
panies as  generally  known,  and  it  is  ridiculous  to 
call  them  such;  they  are  producing  companies,  having 
made  records  unequalled  and  never  approached  by  any 
similar  organization  in  the  world.  Stock  companies 
are  termed  "stock  companies"  because  they  are  per- 
manent institutions  and  produce  old,  tried  plays 
weekly;  the  only  old  plays  that  the  Los  Angeles  com- 
panies present  are  honored  favorites  whose  revival  is 
demanded. 

More  playwriters  winter  in  Los  Angeles  than  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  country  at  large.  They  like  to  stage 
their  own  productions,  and  the  Burbank  and  Belasco 
are  given  over  to  these  new  things  and  become  an 
absolute  producing  centre.  It  is  probable  that  Henry 
W.  Savage  will  give  the  trial  performance  of  Oscar 
Strauss'  new  operetta  in  Los  Angeles  the  Spring  of 
1912. 

"The  Dollar  Mark"  had  a  run  of  over  twenty  weeks ; 
"The  Campus,"  by  Walter  de  Leon  enjoyed  a  run 
of  twenty-four  weeks ;  "Mizpah"  six  weeks ;  "The  Bird 
of  Paradise"  five  weeks ;  "The  Holy  City"  seven  weeks. 
"The  Girl  of  the  Golden  West"  eleven  weeks;  and 
many  other  attractions  for  similar  periods. 

Manager  L.  E.  Behymer  gave  "La  Boheme"  its  first 
production  in  any  country  in  Los  Angeles,  played  by 
the  old  Del  Conte  Opera  Company  from  the  City  of 
Mexico,  and  it  was  played  by  the  Grau  Company  for 
the  first  time  also  in  Los  Angeles  at  Hazard's  Pavil- 
ion, at  which  time  Mme.  Nellie  Melba  sang  Mimi  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life,  creating  the  role,  and  Fritzie 
Scheff  appeared  as  Muzette. 


198 Cfte   g>tage   in   tag 

The  stages  of  the  Los  Angeles  theatres  have  always 
been  open  to  the  aspiring  author  and  many  try-outs, 
although  failures,  have  proven  an  incentive  to  their 
writers  to  try  again.  The  splendid  climate,  the  out- 
door life,  are  all  potent  factors  in  this  respect.  There 
are  over  twenty  acting  companies  producing  films  for 
moving  pictures  with  their  studios,  their  theatres,  their 
outdoor  parks  in  the  hills  and  valleys,  and  at  the  sea- 
shore, within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles  from  Los 
Angeles.  More  new  subjects  are  planned  and  more 
scenarios  written  around  them  in  this  vicinity  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

The  first  dollar  grand  opera,  in  a  stock  sense,  was 
produced  in  Los  Angeles  when  the  Bevani  Company 
played  at  The  Auditorium  under  the  Behymer  man- 
agement. Richard  Ferris,  a  producing  manager,  for 
two  years  presented  nothing  but  new  and  original 
plays  with  The  Auditorium  as  their  home.  A  striking 
list  of  new  plays  is  now  being  arranged  and  will  be 
announced  for  production  in  that  city  by  the  time  this 
book  is  in  press. 

In  1884  the  first  theatre  known  to  Los  Angeles  out- 
side of  old  Merced  Hall  and  Mott's  Hall,  was  thrown 
open  to  the  public;  it  was  then  called  "Child's  Opera 
House,"  was  managed  by  A.  C.  Jones,  and  opened  by 
Mile.  Rhea  in  "Frou-Frou,"  and  until  1894  was  the 
only  theatre  in  that  city. 

Hazard's  Pavilion  was  built  in  1886  to  be  used  as 
a  convention  hall  and  for  the  presenting  of  spectacles. 
A  stock  company  managed  by  Webster  &  Brady 
played  at  this  house  for  a  limited  engagement,  then  the 
Los  Angeles  Theatre  was  built  and  opened  on  Sep- 
tember 9  by  Jeffries  Lewis  in  "Divorcons,"  under  the 


Ctoentietl)    Centutg 199 

management  of  H.  C.  Wyatt.  Two  years  afterwards 
the  Burbank  Theatre  was  completed  and  the  first  stock 
house  known  to  history  in  Los  Angeles  opened  its 
doors  with  the  Fred  A.  Cooper  Stock  Company  in 
"The  French  Spy."  Since  then  Los  Angeles  has  grown, 
and  now  has  four  combination  houses:  The  Majestic, 
managed  by  Oliver  Morosco,  playing  the  Cort  travel- 
ing attractions  and  those  of  the  Independents;  the 
Mason  Opera  House,  managed  by  William  T.  Wyatt, 
playing  the  Klaw  &  Erlanger  attractions ;  the  Lyceum, 
managed  by  Clarence  A.  Drown,  playing  the  popular- 
priced  traveling  combinations,  and  The  Auditorium, 
"Theatre  Beautiful,"  managed  by  L.  E.  Behymer,  play- 
ing grand  opera,  orchestras,  bands  and  traveling  com- 
binations requiring  a  large  seating  capacity  and  plenty 
of  stage  room  and  equipment. 

Among  stock  houses  may  be  found  the  Burbank  and 
[the  Belasco,  both  under  the  management  of  Oliver  Mo- 
rosco ;  and  the  Grand  Opera  House,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Kavanaugh  &  Hartmann,  playing  the  Hart- 
mann  Stock  Comic  Opera  Companies.  In  vaudeville 
we  have  the  New  Orpheum,  under  the  management  of 
Clarence  Drown,  a  splendid  edifice,  the  finest  build- 
ing devoted  to  vaudeville  west  of  Chicago;  the  Pan- 
tages,  with  Manager  Walker;  the  Empress,  Sullivan 
and  Considine  House;  dune's  Broadway  and  Fifth 
Street  theatres,  sumptuous  homes  of  moving  pictures ; 
the  Olympic,  the  Novelty  and  the  Princess,  given  over 
to  burlesque;  the  Empire  and  the  Adolphus  to  melo- 
drama; the  Lyric,  the  Angelus,  Hyam's  Eighth  Street 
and  Broadway  Theatres;  Kraemer's  Kinemacolor 
Theatre,  all  representing  the  higher  type  of  the  mov- 


200 Cfte    ^tagc    in    tfte 

ing  picture  houses,  with  eighty-nine  other  ten-cent 
theatres  scattered  throughout  the  city  limits. 

The  Auditorium,  "Theatre  Beautiful,"  is  the  most 
sumptuous  house  west  of  The  Auditorium  in  Chicago 
and  contains  in  addition  to  the  latest  and  best  theatri- 
cal equipment,  a  pipe  organ  costing  $38,000. 

Shrine  Auditorium,  used  for  big  spectacles,  drills, 
land  shows,  horse  shows  and  hippodrome  acts  of  all 
character,  will  seat  six  thousand  people.  Simpson's 
Auditorium  for  many  years  has  been  the  home  of  high- 
grade  music.  The  Chutes  is  equipped  with  a  theatre 
seating  two  thousand  people,  and  Fiesta  Park  has  a 
circus  enclosure  seating  over  fifteen  thousand,  and 
with  complete  equipment  for  motor  races  of  all  char- 
acter. 

Los  Angeles  has  proven  herself  to  be  a  splendid 
theatrical  town.  As  a  producing  centre  it  is  only  sur- 
passed by  Chicago  and  New  York.  The  tourist  trade 
in  the  Winter  augments  its  four  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, and  gives  magnificent  returns  to  the  theatri- 
cal and  musical  endeavor  that  possesses  merit. 

In  the  Summer  time  the  evenings  are  cool  and  pleas- 
ant, hence  Los  Angeles  has  an  all-year  round  theatre- 
going  public.  The  latest  plays  are  produced  in  the 
stock  houses,  very  often  presented  before  traveling 
companies. 

•$»•$»    «|i 

The  Symphony  Orchestras  on  the  Pacific  Coast  at 
the  present  time  are  not  wholly  indicative  of  the  work 
which  has  been  done  in  the  past  or  will  be  done  in  the 
future.  Seattle  has  for  a  number  of  years  enjoyed 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 201 

the  honor  of  entertaining  Henry  Hadley,  and  he  has 
given  to  that  city  an  excellent  organization  of  players. 
This  year  the  work  was  blocked  and,  for  want  of 
finances,  unable  to  go  ahead  with  Mr.  Hadley  as 
leader.  The  organization,  however,  has  continued  with 
the  concert  master  in  charge,  and  a  series  of  concerts 
will  be  given,  while  preparations  are  being  made  for 
a  grand  symphony  revival  next  season.  In  the  mean 
time  Director  Hadley  has  gone  to  San  Francisco,  the 
citizens  have  raised  a  big  guarantee,  and  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Symphony  Orchestra  is  now  ready  to  enter  into 
its  first  symphony  season  with  seventy  men  under  the 
baton  of  Mr.  Hadley. 

Portland,  Ore.,  has  organized  its  own  symphony  as- 
sociation among  its  players ;  officers  have  been  elected, 
the  position  of  conductor  is  a  movable  one,  the  director 
of  each  prominent  local  orchestra  taking  this  superb 
body  of  players  and  directing  one  of  the  six  concerts 
which  will  complete  the  symphony  season  this  year. 

In  Los  Angeles  the  symphony  orchestra  is  now  in  its 
fifteenth  year  with  Harley  Hamilton  as  its  director, 
and  L.  E.  Behymer  as  manager,  occupying  the  same 
positions  they  did  at  the  formation  of  the  orchestra. 
The  personnel  now  numbers  seventy-seven  men,  and 
the  work  is  being  augmented  each  season.  This  is 
one  of  the  few  orchestras  in  the  United  States  which 
may  be  considered  as  a  permanent  institution,  and 
whose  activities  are  always  on  the  increase. 

The  Woman's  Symphony  Orchestra  of  Los  Angeles, 
now  in  its  twentieth  year,  with  Harley  Hamilton  as 
conductor  and  L.  E.  Behymer  as  business  manager, 
is  one  of  the  unique  organizations  of  this  country.  Its 
membership  of  sixty-three  women  unite  the  social,  the 


202 C6e   ^tagc    in    tfte 

musical,  as  well  as  the  laboring  girl,  with  but  one 
idea — that  of  adding  to  their  musical  education.  Most 
of  the  success  of  these  organizations  is  due  to  the 
splendid  work  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  has  found  time  to 
lecture  on  musical  subjects  before  both  symphony  or- 
ganizations, as  well  as  the  clubs  and  schools.  Each 
year  the  two  big  symphony  organizations  of  Los 
Angeles  unite  with  some  of  the  singing  bodies  of  that 
city  and  give  a  music  festival  that  draws  out  the  best 
musical  talent  in  the  Southwest. 

In  Kdverside  there  is  a  symphony  orchestra  of 
sixty  members  under  the  direction  of  B.  Roscoc 
Shryock;  it  is  now  in  its  third  year's  work. 

In  San  Diego  the  symphony  organization,  under  the 
direction  of  Prof.  Owen,  is  in  its  third  season,  with 
interest  growing  in  symphony  literature. 

The  musical  situation  in  the  Los  Angeles  public 
schools  is  one  which  will  excite  great  interest,  and  must 
be  described  to  be  appreciated.  For  over  ten  years 
the  music  has  been  in  the  hands  of  efficient  teachers 
whose  main  object  has  been  to  raise  the  standard  of 
music  as  usually  presented  in  the  public  schools  of 
America,  and  to  do  so  has  required  not  only  the  ability 
of  good  teachers,  but  a  plan  which  would  appeal  to  the 
children  as  well.  Children  must  be  attracted  by  some- 
thing more  than  the  usual  routine  and  when  Manager 
Behymer  approached  the  schools  with  an  idea  of  giv- 
ing symphony  concerts  by  Damrosch  or  the  Russian 
Symphony  at  popular  prices,  and  using  the  immense 
Shrine  Auditorium,  the  young  folks  began  to  take  no- 
tice. The  teachers  having  charge  of  the  music  depart- 
ments, Miss  Parsons,  of  the  Polytechnic  High  School, 
Miss  Blythe,  of  the  L.  A.  High,  Mr.  Wilson,  of  the 


Ctoentietfl    Centutp 203 

Manual  Arts,  and  Katherine  Stone,  of  the  grammar 
grades,  had  formed  various  glee  clubs  and  their  young 
folks,  orchestras,  with  additional  choruses,  in  all  de- 
partments, and  whenever  they  could  hear  an  artist  at 
reasonable  prices,  the  school  auditoriums  were  thrown 
open  and  Mr.  Behymer's  efforts  given  hearty  co-op- 
eration. 

What  is  the  result?  Last  year  a  three-day  festival 
was  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  music  teachers 
and  the  pupils  of  the  schools  of  Los  Angeles.  The  or- 
chestras were  furnished  by  the  united  high  schools; 
the  glee  clubs  from  all  departments ;  many  of  the  solos 
were  composed  by  the  young  folks  themselves,  and 
performed  by  them  as  well.  Think  of  sixteen  sym- 
phony orchestras  numbering  from  thirty  to  fifty  pieces 
in  the  grammar  grades  alone,  with  each  high  school 
offering  its  own  symphony  organization,  two  brass 
bands,  four  choral  societies,  eight  to  ten  glee  clubs 
and  all  together  a  singing  body  of  some  sixteen  hun- 
dred voices,  capable  of  rendering  artistic  programs, 
technically  perfect,  and  at  the  same  time  giving  those 
programs  with  a  keen  enjoyment  and  a  satisfaction  in 
knowing  that  the  Los  Angeles  schools  are  gradually 
developing  vocalists  and  instrumentalists  who  will  be 
able  to  give  a  splendid  account  of  themselves  artisti- 
cally in  the  future. 

The  musical  life  of  California's  capital  city  is  rep- 
resented by  the  Saturday  Club,  a  magnificent  organiza- 
tion of  women  founded  nineteen  years  ago  for  the 
musical  improvement  of  its  members  and  the  stimula- 
tion of  musical  interest  in  the  community.  From  a 
charter  membership  of  sixty  it  has  grown  to  thirteen 
hundred  and  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best-managed 


204 Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

woman's  clubs  in  the  United  States.  All  business  ol 
the  club  is  conducted  by  a  board  of  twelve  women, 
two  of  whom  must  be  past  presidents.  An  auditing 
committee  of  three  men  audits  the  accounts  at  the  end 
of  each  season. 

The  Saturday  Club  was  organized  through  the  ef- 
forts of  Mrs.  Irving  Bentley,  now  of  San  Francisco, 
and  Miss  Mary  Thompson,  now  Mrs.  James  Pond,  of 
Oakland.  A  charter  membership  of  sixty-four  active 
and  twenty  associate  members  was  enrolled  with  Mrs. 
Frank  Miller  as  president,  Mrs.  Charles  McCreary, 
vice-president  and  Miss  Emily  Thompson,  secretary 
and  treasurer.  These  officers,  together  with  the  fol- 
lowing executive  committee,  comprised  the  first  execu- 
tive board :  Mesdames  George  E.  Pratt,  R.  I.  Bentley, 
B.  F.  Howard,  Charles  Neale  and  Miss  Minnie  Clarke. 
Out  of  the  sixty  charter  members  only  two — Mrs. 
Albert  Elkus  and  Mrs.  Robert  Hawley — have  retained 
their  active  membership  during  the  nineteen  seasons 
and  the  following  five  have  remained  on  the  associate 
list:  Mesdames  G.  L.  Simmons,  Sparrow  Smith,  H. 
G.  May  and  the  Misses  Minnie  Richardson  and  Lizzie 
Griffen.  The  latter  is  now  an  active  member  and  has 
given  eleven  years  of  service  on  that  list. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  club's  life  the  social 
side  dominated.  The  associate  membership  was  limited 
and  is  very  exclusive  and  the  meetings  were  held  in  the 
homes  of  the  members,  the  first  at  the  residence  of 
Mrs.  Charles  McCreary,  December  9,  1893.  The  other 
meetings  for  the  first  two  years  were  at  the  residences 
of  Mesdames  H.  G.  Smith,  W.  M.  Siddons,  Newton 
Booth,  W.  H.  Weinstock,  L.  Tozer,  G.  L.  Simmons, 
A.  A.  Van  Voorhies,  E.  E.  Ray,  W.  S.  Leake,  the  Sut- 


MRS.    J.     A.     MOYNIHAN 


MRS.     ALBERT     T.    ELKUS 


MRS.    LOUISE    GAVIGAN 
In  Office  To-day 


MRS.    FRANCES    MOELLER  MRS.     EUGENE     PITTS 

A   Group   of  Past  and  Present  Presidents  of  the  Saturday   Club  of  Sacramento,   Cal. 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 205 

ter  Club  House  and  the  Kingsley  Art  Rooms.  The 
by-laws  were  changed  so  that  beginning  with  the  third 
year  the  meetings  were  held  in  public  halls  and  a  more 
democratic  spirit  pervaded  the  club. 

Membership  tickets  were  made  transferable,  and 
people  of  all  callings  were  permitted  to  enjoy  its  pro- 
grams. The  club  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  power 
and  strength,  broadening  its  field  of  work  and  widen- 
ing its  influence.  It  has  outgrown  every  available 
meeting  place  in  the  city  so  that  several  times  it  has 
been  found  necessary  to  close  the  membership  list. 
The  nineteenth  season  is  opening  most  auspiciously, 
with  a  large  new  theatre  completed — the  Diepen- 
brock — and  the  old  Clunie  remodeled,  making  it  pos- 
sible to  again  open  the  roll  to  new  members. 

Originally  the  membership  of  the  club  consisted  of 
two  classes,  active  and  associate,  but  four  years  after 
its  organization  a  third,  or  student  class,  was  added. 
This  class  is  limited  to  fifty,  all  of  whom  must  be 
studying  with  a  teacher  of  good  repute.  They  give 
one  program  a  season.  Much  interest  is  shown  in  the 
work  of  these  pupils  and  the  standard  set  for  them  i3 
very  high.  The  club  has  educated  several  hundred 
girls  in  this  way.  The  list  is  always  full  and  often 
as  many  as  forty  are  waiting  to  get  in  at  the  end  of  the 
season. 

The  Saturday  Club  is  purely  an  organization  of 
women,  and  until  six  years  ago  no  names  of  men  ap- 
peared on  the  prospectus  except  as  participants  on  pro- 
grams. Up  to  that  time  a  nominal  fee  was  charged  for 
men  for  the  recitals,  but  the  phenomenal  growth  of 
the  club  precluded  all  idea  of  admission  except  by 
membership  ticket,  so  that  it  was  found  expedient  to 


206 Cfte    S)tage    in    t&e 

admit  a  limited  number  of  men  to  associate  member- 
ship. A  "men's  auxiliary"  was  also  formed  at  that 
time,  made  up  of  local  musicians  who  had  given  and 
were  still  giving  valuable  assistance  to  the  club. 

During  the  club's  first  six  years  the  programs  were 
given  almost  entirely  by  its  active  members,  but  since 
that  time  a  series  of  artist  recitals  are  given  each  sea- 
son. They  often  give  as  many  as  twelve  artist  recitals 
which,  with  the  nine  regular  Home  Days  make  a  most 
interesting  and  profitable  season's  program.  It  should 
be  said  in  justice  to  this  splendid  musical  body  that 
it  is  the  only  club  of  its  size  in  the  United  States  that 
gives  its  members  the  privilege  of  hearing  the  great 
artists  without  assessments.  In  this  club  the  member- 
ship tickets  admit  to  all  recitals.  In  addition  to  the 
musical  programs,  the  club  has  often  included  a  "study 
course"  for  its  members,  conducted  by  some  well- 
known  musicians  on  this  Coast.  Last  year  Albert  I. 
Elkus  gave  twelve  lectures  on  music  with  musical  il- 
lustrations. This  course  was  also  a  membership  privi- 
lege. 

Among  the  most  famous  artists  of  world-wide  repu- 
tation who  have  appeared  under  the  patronage  of  the 
club  are :  Moritz  Rosenthal,  Mme.  Bloomfield  Zeisler, 
Camilla  Urso,  Katherine  Ruth  Heyman,  (whom  Sac- 
ramentoans  are  proud  to  claim  as  their  own),  Edward 
MacDowell,  Mile,  de  Lussan,  Clarence  Eddy,  Harold 
Bauer,  Augusta  Cottlow,  Mme.  Schumann-Heink, 
Josef  Hofmann,  Wilhelm  Heinrich,  Nordica  and  the 
Russ  Orchestra,  David  Bispham,  the  Kneisel  Quartet, 
Mme.  Fanny  Francisco,  the  Dolmetsches,  Mary  Louise 
Clary,  Denis  O'Sullivan,  Edward  Baxter  Perry,  the 
Westminster  Choir,  Mrs.  Charles  W.  Rhodes,  Hugo 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  207 

and  Emil  Heermann,  Jean  Gerardy,  Jan  Kubelik, 
Claude  Cunningham,  Ossip  Gabrilowitsch,  Anton  Hek- 
king,  Arthur  Hartmann,  George  Hamlin,  Johanna 
Gadski,  Herbert  Witherspoon,  Bruce  Gordon  Kings- 
ley,  Teresa  Carreno,  Fritz  Kreisler,  Adela  Verne, 
Blanche  Arral,  Anna  Miller  Wood,  Emilio  de  Gogorza, 
Mary,  Dorothy  and  Suzanne  Passmore,  Glenn  Hall, 
Josef  Lhevinne,  Ludwig  Wullner,  Horatio  Connell, 
Tillie  Koenen,  Antonio  de  Grassi,  the  Flonzaley  Quar- 
tet, Antonio  Scotti,  Jaroslav  Kocian,  Pepito  Arriola, 
Rheinhold  Von  Warlich,  and  the  Russian  Symphony 
Orchestra.  Besides  the  recitals  given  by  artists  from 
the  East  and  abroad,  more  than  one  hundred  talented 
musicians  on  the  Pacific  Coast  have  appeared  before 
the  club. 

The  "artist  recitals"  are  always  looked  forward  to 
with  great  anticipation  by  the  entire  membership  and 
afford  not  only  pleasure  and  delight  but  are  profitable, 
for  they  are  an  incentive  to  both  the  active  and  student 
member.  It  is  through  the  "Home  Days,"  however, 
that  the  club  spirit  is  kept  alive.  The  programs  on 
these  days  are  given  by  the  active  membership,  each 
one  appearing  twice  during  the  season.  These  days 
are  a  stimulus  to  the  club  and  are,  in  fact,  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  entire  organization.  The  program 
analysis  is  given  each  time  by  one  of  the  six  literary 
members  and  thus  the  members  are  made  acquainted 
with  the  literary  as  well  as  the  musical  side  of  the 
composition  and  are  better  able  to  understand  and 
enjoy  the  works  when  given  by  great  artists.  The 
club  keeps  in  touch  with  all  eastern  and  European 
musical  events  by  subscribing  for  all  musical  publi- 
cations. They  buy  music  for  the  active  membership 


208 Cfte    ^tagc    in    tfte 

and  keep  it  in  the  city  library  for  the  use  of  any  student 
of  music. 

Aside  from  its  work  along  musical  lines,  the  club 
has  its  altruistic  side  and  in  times  of  world  or  state 
disaster  or  local  needs  it  has  waived  its  by-laws  and 
has  assisted  in  humanitarian  work.  Believing  that  "the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire"  the  club  has  always  paid 
musical  talent  all  that  the  treasury  would  allow,  and 
when  a  California  artist  re-visits  her  home,  the  club 
does  not  wait  for  her  to  put  in  her  application,  but 
invites  her  to  make  application,  stating  terms. 

The  Saturday  Club  has  undoubtedly  done  more  for 
the  musical  life  of  Sacramento  than  by  any  other  in- 
fluence. With  the  present  musical  atmosphere  per- 
vading the  city  and  such  evidence  of  a  lively  interest 
in  all  things  pertaining  to  music,  it  is  difficult  to  realize 
the  musical  apathy  before  the  advent  of  the  club. 
Few  artists  visited  the  capital  city  before  the  days 
of  the  club,  and  those  who  did  only  met  with  disap- 
pointment, as  for  instance,  de  Pachmann,  who  twenty- 
two  years  ago  played  to  an  audience  of  thirty  people. 
This  season  when  he  appears  before  the  club  he  will  be 
warmly  received  by  more  than  thirteen  hundred  music 
lovers. 

The  Saturday  Club  has  more  than  a  local  reputation 
and  is  recognized  throughout  the  United  States  as  one 
of  the  leading  musical  organizations.  It  is  conducted 
on  the  highest  and  most  artistic  plane  and  its  mem- 
bership enrolls  more  intelligent  musicians  than  most 
clubs  of  its  kind  can  show.  Its  constitution  and  by- 
laws have  been  recommended  by  a  writer  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Musical  Etude  "to  every  club  about  to  or- 
ganize or  desirous  of  being  more  successful  than  it  is." 


Ctoentietj)    Centutg 209 

The  faithful  work  of  the  few  has  made  possible  for 
the  many  the  musical  culture  and  prominence  which 
the  city  to-day  enjoys.  Among  workers  who  have 
given  long  and  active  service  are,  first  of  all,  Mrs. 
Albert  Elkus,  whose  strong  personality,  musical  in- 
telligence and  splendid  business  ability  make  her  at 
once  the  leading  spirit  of  the  club.  She  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  for  eighteen  years,  was  president 
four  years,  and  five  years  ago  was  paid  the  courtesy 
of  honorary  president.  She  is  the  mother  of  the  com- 
poser-pianist, Albert  I.  Elkus,  now  of  San  Francisco, 
and  is  herself  one  of  the  best  amateur  pianists  on  the 
Coast.  She  had  the  honor  of  playing  with  the  Scheel 
Orchestra  in  1895. 

Mrs.  Frank  Miller  was  the  club's  first  president  and 
was  three  times  elected  to  that  office.  During  the  first 
years  of  the  club's  life  she  was  an  active  worker,  being 
a  member  of  the  board  for  ten  years.  Upon  her  re- 
moval from  the  city  she  was  made  an  honorary 
member. 

Mrs.  William  Ellery  Briggs  was  the  second  presi- 
dent of  the  club  and  held  the  office  for  three  terms. 
She  was  for  ten  years  one  of  the  most  valuable  mem- 
bers of  the  board  and  was  elected  to  honorary  mem- 
bership. 

Miss  Maude  Blue,  now  Mrs.  Eugene  Pitts,  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  club's  youngest  president.  She 
held  office  two  terms  and  shed  glory  upon  herself  as 
well  as  the  office.  She  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
for  the  past  eleven  years  and  is  one  of  the  best  pianists 
of  the  club. 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Moynihan  presided  over  the  destinies  of 
the  club  for  three  years  and  her  administration  was 


210 Cfre    g)tage    in    tfte 

one  of  the  most  successful  in  its  history.  She  has  a 
clear,  lyric  soprano  voice  and  a  splendid  stage  pres- 
ence. For  sixteen  years  she  has  been  contributing  to 
the  musical  programs  and  for  eleven  years  has  done 
active  work  on  the  board  most  capably. 

The  late  Mrs.  Frances  Moeller  performed  the  duties 
of  secretary  of  the  club  for  five  years  as  vice-president. 
She  was  a  tireless  worker  on  the  board  for  the  past 
fifteen  years  and  also  one  of  the  most  prominent 
musicians  and  teachers  in  Sacramento. 

Mrs.  Louise  Gavigan  has  just  entered  upon  her 
second  term  as  president.  For  five  years  she  held  the 
secretaryship  and  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  sec- 
retaries the  club  has  had.  She  is  one  of  the  six 
literary  members  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
for  eleven  years.  With  a  charming  personality  and 
excellent  executive  ability,  there  could  be  no  more 
fitting  head  of  this  splendid  musical  body. 

The  sentiments  of  the  club  are  most  beautifully; 
expressed  in  the  following  motto  which  is  printed  on 
the  first  page  of  its  year-book  each  season: 

"To  me  it  seems  as  if  when  God  conceived  the 
world — that  was  poetry;  He  formed  it — that  was 
sculpture;  He  colored  it — that  was  painting;  He  peo- 
pled it  with  living  beings;  that  was  the  drama;  He 
breathed,  and 

"Through  every  human  pulse  a  something  stole 

And  held  sublime  communion  with  the  soul; 

And  those  who  listened  understood 

Something  of  life  in  spirit  and  blood, 

Something  of  nature  fair  and  good — that  was  music." 


Ctoenttetft    Centutp  211 

L.  E.  Behymer  for  a  number  of  years  has  given  to 
the  Pacific  Coast  a  series  of  events  known  as  the 
Great  Philharmonic  Course.  These  courses  were  first 
founded  fourteen  years  ago  and  were  arranged  in  a 
series  of  numbers  to  give  to  a  musical  public  an  in- 
centive to  purchase  at  a  reduced  figure,  the  same  seats 
for  from  four  to  ten  events  a  year.  Gradually  other 
cities  outside  of  Los  Angeles  saw  the  wisdom  and  ad- 
visability of  this  co-operative  method,  and  so  the  Phil- 
harmonic habit  grew.  This  year  Los  Angeles  has  two 
editions  of  the  Philharmonic  course. 

The  first  series  shows  a  splendid  aggregation  ot 
talent;  opening  with  Pasquale  Amato,  dramatic  bari- 
tone, assisted  by  Mme.  Gilda  Longari,  soprano,  and 
F.  Tanara,  pianist.  The  second  event,  Emma  Eames 
and  Emilio  de  Gogorza,  followed  by  the  Mountain 
Ash  Choir,  a  singing  body  of  eighteen  men  from  Car- 
diff, Wales.  For  pianist,  Vladimir  de  Pachmann  has 
been  selected;  Mme.  Ernestina  Schumann-Heink,  dra- 
matic contralto,  is  the  fifth  artist  on  the  Coast,  and 
Efram  Zimbalist,  the  violinist. 

For  the  second  series  an  equally  talented  group  have 
been  engaged,  the  series  opening  with  David  Bispham, 
America's  greatest  baritone,  followed  by  Jan  Kubelik, 
violinist;  Mme.  Luisa  Tetrazzini,  prima  donna  so- 
prano; alternating  with  John  McCormack,  lyric  tenor; 
Harold  Bauer,  the  eminent  pianist,  is  another  favorite 
in  this  series.  The  Flonzaley  Quartet  furnishes  the 
music,  and  the  series  closes  with  Alessandro  Bonci, 
lyric  tenor.  Surely  no  similar  series  has  ever  been 
given  on  the  Pacific  Coast  showing  a  superior  number 
of  entertainers. 

In  addition  to  these  courses  in  Los  Angeles  the 


212 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

Philharmonic  numbers  are  introduced  in  all  of  the 
principal  Coast  cities,  including  Stockton,  San  Jose, 
Santa  Barbara,  Riverside,  Redlands,  San  Diego, 
Fresno,  Bakersfield,  Sacramento,  Reno,  and  the  cities 
of  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  all  of  which  shows 
what  active  enterprise,  hustling  and  a  sane  business 
method  will  do  when  placed  before  communities  that 
are  willing  to  accept  true  artistic  endeavor. 

The  State  of  California  has  more  musical  clubs  than 
any  other  state  west  of  New  York  or  Massachusetts, 
and  most  of  them  are  active  clubs.  The  Great  Phil- 
harmonic Course,  as  started  by  L.  E.  Behymer  in  Los 
Angeles,  and  fathered  by  him  throughout  the  state, 
has  become  a  permanent  institution  with  many  of 
the  clubs  of  the  Southwest.  The  Saturday  Club,  the 
best  known  musical  club  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  situated 
at  Sacramento,  composed  of  1,600  of  the  leading 
women  of  that  city,  present  this  year,  under  their 
management  in  such  a  course,  the  following  artists: 
Pasquale  Amato  and  his  company,  David  Bispham, 
Vladimir  de  Pachmann,  Lilly  Dorn  and  her  trio, 
Alessandro  Bonci,  Efram  Zimbalist,  Leonard  Ber- 
wick, Kittie  Cheatham,  and  Sousa's  Band,  a  most  ex- 
cellent showing  for  a  city  of  50,000. 

In  San  Diego,  the  Amphion  Club  have  a  similar 
series  in  their  Philharmonic  Course,  introducing  also 
Mme.  Schumann-Heink,  Myrtle  Elvyn  and  Constan- 
tino. In  Redlands  it  is  the  Spinet  Club,  composed 
of  80  of  the  leading  women  of  the  town,  bringing  Mme. 
Schumann-Heink,  Lilly  Dorn  and  her  company, 
Harold  Bauer,  the  Flonzaley  Quartet  and  the  Mountain 
Ash  Choir  from  Wales. 

Riverside  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the  home 


IGNAZE   HAROLDI 

Violin    Vrtuoso 
Photograph  by  Louis  Fleckenstein 


HARRY  CLIFFORD   LOTT 


ESTELLE 
HEARTT-DREYFUS 


Photograph   by 
Louis    Fleckenstein 


BRUCE   GORDON    KINGSLEY 
Well-known    Organist 


B.    R.    BAUMGARE 

Travel    Lecturer 
A  Group  of  L.  E.  Behymer's  Attractions  on  the  Pacific  Coast 


Ctocntictft    Centurp 213 

of  the  Tuesday  Musical  Club,  whose  activity  brings 
the  same  list  of  attractions  to  their  Philharmonic 
Course.  In  Pasadena  The  Music  Hall  Association 
do  the  planning  for  the  Philharmonic  Endeavor,  using 
this  year  Mikail  Mordkin,  and  his  Russian  dancers, 
the  Balalaikah  Orchestra,  Harold  Bauer,  the  Lilly 
Dorn  Company,  Efram  Zimbalist,  and  Mme.  Schu- 
mann-Heink. 

In  Santa  Barbara  it  is  the  Music  Study  Club,  headed 
by  a  splendid  body  of  representative  women;  in 
Stockton,  the  Stockton  Musical  Organization,  its  di- 
rectorate composed  of  representatives  from  24  of  the 
musical,  social  and  civic  clubs  of  that  city;  in  Fresno, 
the  Fresno  Musical  Club,  headed  by  Mrs.  Don  Pardee 
Riggs  and  Mrs.  Tessie  Huber  Manning;  in  Reno,  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club  is  responsible  for  the  work; 
in  San  Jose,  F.  A.  Giesea,  manager  of  the  Victory 
Theatre,  and  L.  E.  Behymer,  with  the  assistance  of 
Prof.  Owens,  of  the  Public  Schools,  take  care  of  the 
big  Philharmonic  Course;  at  Berkeley,  it  is  the  Berk- 
eley Music  Club ;  in  San  Francisco,  the  Pacific  Musical 
Club,  and  every  small  city  from  5,000  inhabitants  up 
has  some  organization  to  represent  them  in  the  musical 
and  dramatic  work. 

San  Francisco  now  has  its  board  of  directors  from 
among  the  business  men  who  conduct  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Symphony  Orchestra  under  the  conductorship 
of  Henry  Hadley.  In  Los  Angeles  the  Los  Angeles 
Symphony  Association  is  responsible  for  the  keeping 
at  work  of  Conductor  Harley  Hamilton  and  his  men. 

The  Women's  Symphony  Orchestra  of  Los  Angeles 
is  also  conducted  by  Harley  Hamilton,  with  the  busi- 


214 C6e   S>tage   in   tiie 

ness  management  of  both  organizations  in  Mr.  Behy- 
mer's  hands. 

Riverside  has  its  own  Symphony  Orchestra  under 
the  direction  of  B.  Roscoe  Shryock ;  San  Diego  has  its 
regular  symphony  organization,  and  the  Berkeley 
Symphony  is  under  the  conductorship  of  Prof.  Paul 
Steindorf. 

Seattle  and  Portland  both  boast  of  symphony  or- 
ganizations, which  shows  that  the  Pacific  Coast  is  not 
entirely  off  the  map  symphonically.  The  Los  Angeles 
schools  have  three  splendid  student  symphony  orches- 
tras in  the  L.  A.  High,  the  Manual  Arts  High  and 
the  Polytechnic  High,  while  16  similar  organizations 
are  found  within  the  precincts  of  the  grammar  grades. 

In  addition  to  these  musical  clubs,  Los  Angeles 
possesses  actively  in  the  work  the  Ellis  Club,  a  male 
organization  of  120 ;  the  Orpheus  Club,  a  younger  male 
chorus  of  80 ;  the  Lyric  Club  of  120  women ;  the  Apollo 
Club,  a  mixed  chorus;  and  a  number  of  well  known 
church  choirs  equally  as  important.  The  social  mu- 
sical clubs  in  Los  Angeles  are  represented  by  the 
Dominant  Club,  composed  of  300  lady  musicians,  and 
the  Gamut  Club,  of  400  male  musicians,  artists,  com- 
posers, and  literary  men. 

The  theatrical  and  musical  managers  of  California 
have  had  much  to  do  with  the  making  of  the  theatrical 
and  musical  history  of  that  state.  They  have  been 
apparently  of  a  superior  class  to  the  average  men 
of  business  who  enter  into  this  hazardous  field. 

Among  those  of  early  days  may  be  mentioned  John 
McCullough,  whose  stock  company  played  at  the  old 
California  Theatre,  and  E.  J.  Baldwin,  who  looked 
after  the  Baldwin  Theatre  interests  before  Alfred 


Ctoentictft    Centutp  215 

Bouvier  and  Louis  Morgenstcrn  made  their  appear- 
ance upon  the  scene.  Alf  Hayman  also  tried  his  hand, 
and  most  successfully,  in  directing  the  forces  of  the 
Baldwin  and  California  Theatres.  Alfred  Ellinghouse 
was  a  well-known  theatrical  man  in  San  Francisco,  and 
M.  B.  Leavitt  organized  his  first  company  and  man- 
aged his  first  theatre  in  that  section.  Gustav  Walter 
was  the  originator  of  the  vaudeville  habit  twenty 
years  ago,  and  Morris  Meyerfeld  was  his  able  lieu- 
tenant, succeeding  him  as  manager  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Orpheum,  and  eventually  as  the  head  of  the 
Orpheum  Syndicate. 

Louis  Morrison,  actor-manager,  was  early  in  the 
field,  and  Billy  Emerson  was  the  first  minstrel  king 
of  the  Golden  West.  In  Los  Angeles  the  early  man- 
agement was  represented  by  Harry  Wyatt,  ably  sec- 
onded by  L.  E.  Behymer,  while  Fred  Cooper  was  the 
early  stock  king  of  that  section,  and  McClain  and 
Lehman  were  managers  and  bill  posters  during  the 
'80's  and  '90's.  Martin  Lehman  is  to-day  part  owner 
of  the  Orpheum  holdings,  and  manager  of  the  Kansas 
City  Orpheum. 

Gottloeb-Marx  &  Company,  of  San  Francisco,  suc- 
ceeded Alf  Hayman  and  Ellinghouse.  Samuel  Fried- 
lander  was  also  deeply  interested  in  the  Walter  prop- 
erties. Sidney  Ackermann  became  the  director  of 
the  California,  and  Belasco  &  Davis  were  the  stock 
kings  of  San  Francisco,  owning  now  the  only  stock 
house  in  that  city. 

The  advent  of  John  Cort  threw  a  new  aspect  on 
California  theatricals,  and  to-day  he  is  the  Napoleon  of 
the  dramatic  fraternity,  the  theatrical  magnate  of  the 
Far  West  and  the  Middle  West. 


216 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfte 

Other  well-known  managers  of  the  present  day  are 
Oliver  Morosco,  of  Los  Angeles,  director  of  the 
Morosco  enterprises,  the  Burbank  Theatre  Stock  Com- 
pany, the  Belasco-Blackwood-Morosco  Stock  Com- 
pany, at  the  Belasco  Theatre,  and  manager  of  the 
Majestic  Theatre  as  well. 

W.  T.  Wyatt  is  manager  of  the  Mason  Opera  House 
and  director  of  the  W.  T.  Wyatt  circuit  of  theatres 
in  Santa  Barbara,  Riverside,  Redlands,  and  San  Bern- 
ardino. 

The  Kavanaugh-Hartmann  Company  are  managers 
of  the  Grand  Opera  House,  the  traveling  organizations 
of  the  "Campus,"  and  "The  Toy  Maker"  companies. 
F.  A.  Giesea,  John  Cort's  representative,  and  booking 
agent  for  San  Francisco  and  the  Southwestern  Thea- 
tres, is  also  the  manager  of  the  Yosemite  Theatre  at 
Stockton,  the  McDonough  Theatre  at  Oakland,  the 
Victory  Theatre  at  San  Jose,  the  Majestic  Theatre 
of  Chico,  the  Grand  Opera  House  at  Oroville,  and  in 
connection  with  W.  A.  Henry,  the  Clunie  Theatre 
at  Sacramento. 

The  Auditorium  in  Los  Angeles  is  under  the  man- 
agement of  L.  E.  Behymer,  who,  by  virtue  of  twenty- 
six  years  in  similar  positions,  is  the  dean  of  the 
theatrical  fraternity  of  Los  Angeles.  The  new  Spreck- 
els  Theatre  in  San  Diego,  the  most  magnificent  house 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  is  also  under  the  management 
of  L.  E.  Behymer,  associated  with  Jack  Dodge,  the 
latter  gentleman  having  seen  thirty-two  years  service 
in  theatricals  in  San  Diego.  They  also  retain  the 
management  of  the  Isis  in  that  city. 

These  men  all  represent  the  business  as  well  as  the 
artistic  side  of  their  profession.  They  are  keen  pro- 


Ctoentietj)    Centucg 217 

moters,  and  able  not  only  to  select  their  companies, 
but  they  are  willing  to  take  chances  and  believe  in 
a  maximum  of  artistry  at  a  minimum  price  of  ad- 
mission. They  are  always  looking  for  competent 
and  original  talent,  the  newest  and  latest  compositions 
and  plays,  believing  that  if  their  patrons  are  pleased 
financial  results  will  follow.  Originality  is  the  keynote 
of  the  western  enterprise,  western  plays,  western 
authors,  western  singers,  western  actors  and  actresses 
their  slogan,  and  to  give,  if  possible,  the  best  equip- 
ment, sumptuous  stage  effects  and  brilliant  artistry 
to  their  public. 


218  Cfte    Stage    in 


CHAPTER  XII 

It  does  not  seem  so  very  long  ago  when  the  stage 
as  a  theme  for  literary  endeavor  was  regarded  by 
publishers  and  authors  alike  as  a  precarious  field  with 
which  to  tempt  fate,  and  only  volumes  treating  of  the 
life  achievements  of  a  very  few  renowned  personali- 
ties, such  as  Rachel,  Kean,  Kemble,  Beethoven,  Mozart 
and  Mendelssohn  ever  reached  the  dignity  of  publica- 
tion— and  even  these  were  hardly  potent. 

One  would  presume  that  Shakespeare  would  be 
a  subject  to  conjure  with  at  any  period.  It  is  true 
that  the  great  poet's  works  have  profitably  availed 
publishers  for  many  generations,  but  Shakespeare 
himself  has  never  been  a  potent  theme  till  very  re- 
cently, and  the  "best  seller"  to  date  is  acknowledged 
to  be  William  Winter's  "Shakespeare  on  the  Stage," 
published  in  1911,  though  the  same  author  has  writ- 
ten several  volumes  anent  the  poet  and  his  works. 

That  conditions  are  now  wholly  different  is  best 
illustrated  by  the  known  fact  that  over  two  hundred 
volumes  on  musical  and  theatrical  subjects  were  issued 
in  the  year  1911,  and  as  many  more  are  already  planned 
for  1912.  The  public  interest  in  these  works  may  best 
be  understood  when  it  is  recorded  that  four  volumes 
on  the  life  and  art  of  Richard  Mansfield  have  appeared 
within  two  years  of  the  latter's  demise,  and  all  have 
had  unusually  large  editions. 

Practically  every  prominent  critic  of  music  and  the 


MARC   LAGEN 
Modern    Entrepreneur   in   the   Concert   Field 


CHARLES    F.    FRENCH 
Editor     "Musical     Leader" 


JOHN  C.   FREUND 

Editor    "Musical    America" 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 219 

drama  has  found  a  profitable  field  in  recent  years 
through  the  issuance  of  volumes  of  a  historical  as  well 
as  of  a  reminiscent  character.  Mr.  Winter  issues  at 
least  one  volume  a  year.  H.  E.  Krehbiel,  musical  critic 
of  the  New  York  Tribune  for  nearly  thirty  years,  has 
written  six  volumes  in  as  many  years,  principally  on 
grand  opera,  and  these  are  in  large  request  all  over 
the  world,  while  his  "Chapters  of  Opera"  is  often 
referred  to  in  the  "books  in  demand"  list  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  although  the  work  was  issued 
three  years  ago. 

Henry  T.  Finck,  musical  critic  of  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  is  perhaps  the  most  prolific  writer  on 
music  and  musicians  in  this  country.  He  has*  a  dozen 
volumes  to  his  credit,  all  of  nation-wide  popularity, 
and  this  same  writer  contributes  to  some  of  our 
best  magazine  articles  annually.  What  this  means 
can  perhaps  best  be  conveyed  to  the  lay  reader  when 
he  is  informed  that  a  musical  or  dramatic  critic  with 
an  earning  capacity  of  $50  a  week  as  recently  as 
twenty  years  ago  was  indeed  envied  by  his  colleagues. 

Alan  Dale  (Mr.  Alfred  Cohen)  is  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  vast  progress  that  has  come  to  pass  in 
stage  literature.  Beginning  as  the  dramatic  critic  of 
the  Evening  World  in  the  early  '80's,  at  a  weekly 
honorarium  such  as  is  to-day  paid  to  a  good  stenog- 
rapher, Mr.  Cohen's  peculiar  style  of  writing  became 
so  popular  that  the  demand  for  his  services  naturally 
caused  a  larger  increase  in  his  income.  It  is  a  fair 
guess,  that  aside  from  his  books,  all  of  which  have 
been  big  sellers,  $25,000  would  not  be  too  high  a  total 
to  put  this  clever  critic's  yearly  income  at. 

Almost  every  prominent  actor  or  actress  has  either 


220  Cfte    Stage    in    t&e 

written  volumes  or  is  now  writing  them,  and  it  is  the 
same  with  prominent  singers.  The  success  attending 
the  ventures  in  this  line  of  Ellen  Terry,  Adelaide 
Ristori,  Nellie  Melba,  Clara  Morris  (whose  literary 
work  alone  has  served  to  maintain  her  expensive  es- 
tablishment at  Riverdale,  New  York,  for  the  last  seven 
years),  and  Mary  Shaw,  has  provided  the  necessary 
incentive.  Miss  Shaw  has  left  the  stage  in  the  zenith 
of  her  career  because  of  the  response  she  has  met  with 
from  publishers  and  editors  since  she  turned  authoress. 

Margaret  Anglin,  though  she  has  not  abandoned 
her  artistic  career,  is  a  persistent  contributor  to  the 
magazines,  and  her  first  volume  is  shortly  to  appear. 
Josef  Hoffman,  the  famous  pianist,  who  set  all  America 
music  mad  as  a  boy  prodigy,  has  issued  several  vol- 
umes on  piano  playing.  The  demand  for  these  works 
has  been  tremendous,  and  this  distinguished  musician, 
besides  contributing  to  a  dozen  magazines,  is  in  receipt 
of  a  handsome  income  annually  from  the  Ladies  Home 
Journal,  to  which  he  contributes  regularly. 

All  of  the  famous  grand  opera  stars  are  beset  with 
offers  for  writings,  and  the  majority  are  quite  content 
to  welcome  the  added  publicity  resulting  from  literary 
endeavor,  while  the  receipt  of  a  substantial  check  is 
never  offensive.  These  pets  of  the  public  are  nowadays 
earning  so  much  money  from  their  phonograph  rec- 
ords that  the  advent  of  a  new  source  of  income  is 
hailed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Even  the  great  Caruso  is  not  immune  in  this  respect, 
and,  while  as  yet  no  volumes  have  evolved  from  his 
pen,  the  illustrious  tenor  is  wont  to  write  for  the 
magazines  and  for  the  syndicate  periodicals,  for  which 
he  receives  ample  compensation.  Caruso,  it  will  be 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 221 

recalled,  had  to  abandon  his  activities  at  the  opera 
house  the  last  half  of  the  last  two  seasons,  and  un- 
doubtedly he  was  consoled  for  this  catastrophe  by  the 
knowledge  that  his  income  from  the  phonograph  is 
almost  as  large  as  that  from  his  singing  on  the  opera 
house  stage.  It  is  known  that  Caruso  was  offered 
fifty  cents  a  word  for  an  article  on  "How  to  Preserve 
the  Voice." 

Luisa  Tetrazzini  is  a  contributor  to  several  maga- 
zines and  to  many  newspapers.  The  diva's  prosperity, 
while  almost  without  parallel,  is  of  quite  recent  date. 
Five  years  ago  she  was  singing  at  "The  Tivoli"  in  San 
Francisco. 

It  is  only  in  the  last  five  years  that  theatrical  man- 
agers have  written  their  reminiscences.  At  an  earlier 
period  only  a  Barnum  was  regarded  as  a  compelling 
subject  by  the  publishers,  but  all  this  is  changed  now. 
The  present  writer  issued  his  first  volume  in  1909,  and 
the  result  from  this  work  was  such  that  each  year  since 
has  seen  another  volume  appear.  In  the  last  three 
years  the  writer  has  contributed  246  articles,  ranging 
from  800  to  9,000  words  each,  to  62  different  maga- 
zines and  trade  issues,  and  since  then  Daniel  Froh- 
mann,  Mr.  B.  Leavitt,  and  Marcus  Mayer  have  issued 
or  are  to  issue  works  dealing  with  their  own  careers. 

The  modern  publisher,  however,  should  realize  that 
there  are  lots  of  good  "fish  in  the  sea"  and  that  the 
next  five  years  should  witness  the  advent  of  many 
writers  from  the  field  of  the  theatre. 

After  all,  this  should  not  be  regarded  as  extraordi- 
nary. Stage  folk  as  a  rule  are  of  an  intellectual  mould 
and  surely  the  environment  of  the  player  and  the 
musician  is  such,  that  their  observations  and  impres- 


222  _  Cfte   g>tage   in   tfle 

sions  must  necessarily  prove  interesting,  particularly 
when  accompanied  by  an  intimate  style,  and  this  is 
rarely  lacking  when  the  Thespian  or  the  musical  ce- 
lebrity becomes  reminiscent. 


F.  T.  Montgomery  is  a  name  to  conjure  with  in 
the  South.  Here  we  have  the  representative  type  of 
showman  that  cinematography  has  produced.  There 
are  not  many  theatrical  managers  whose  life  achieve- 
ments have  produced  the  material  results  accomplished 
in  the  meteoric  rise  of  this  pioneer  in  the  moving  pic- 
ture industry.  In  this  instance  it  has  not  been  so 
much  what  has  been  achieved  as  how  he  became 
wealthy  and  potent. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  industry  Mr.  Montgomery 
exhibited  moving  pictures  in  halls  and  under  canvas. 
He  prospered  from  the  outset  and  four  years  ago  he 
opened  his  first  little  theatre  in  a  store  in  Fort  Worth, 
Texas;  this  was  the  first  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the 
South.  After  this  Memphis  was  added,  and  it  was 
here  that  Mr.  Montgomery  began  his  campaign  on  a 
principle  that  has  been  strictly  adhered  to  ever  since; 
that  principle  is  to  present  in  newly  erected  theatres 
of  unsurpassed  beauty  and  equipment,  the  highest 
grade  of  photo-plays,  at  prices  within  the  reach  of  all. 
These  theatres,  in  fact,  were  in  every  way  equal  to 
the  best  legitimate  theatres  in  the  country,  and  they 
were  conducted  throughout  in  a  manner  that  always 
brought  a  tremendous  public  response;  a  patronage 
once  won,  never  was  lost. 

To-day  Mr.  Montgomery  is  the  president  of  a  com- 


Ctoentieti)    Cetttutg  _  223 

pany  that  owns  six  theatres  patronized  by  the  elite 
of  each  city  in  which  they  are  located.  The  methods 
of  Mr.  Montgomery  have  been  so  compelling  that  he  is 
constantly  offered  inducements  to  extend  his  circuit, 
and  his  advent  in  the  East  is  looked  for  in  due  course. 


An  important  figure  in  the  film  industry,  whose 
influence  has  extended  into  other  fields,  is  found  in 
the  person  of  Robert  W.  Kiewert,  of  the  firm  of 
Charles  Kiewert  and  Company,  of  Milwaukee,  who, 
having  made  a  study  of  carbon  conditions  for  many 
years,  affiliated  himself  with  the  great  Berlin  house, 
Gebrueder  Siemens  &  Co.,  the  largest  carbon  factory 
in  the  world. 

It  was  this  same  Mr.  Kiewert  who  suggested  to 
Herr  Viertel,  of  Berlin  (the  technical  director  of  Sie- 
mens &  Co.),  the  new  bio  carbon,  and  the  same  was 
developed  as  a  result  of  Mr.  Kiewert's  operations.  No 
one  needs  to  be  told  what  these  bio  carbons  have 
meant  in  the  progress  of  the  moving  picture,  and  once 
more  we  are  confronted  with  evidence  of  the  part 
played  in  this  progress  by  the  newcomers  who  have 
so  often  improved  on  the  originators. 


Canada  has  come  forth  in  the  last  year  as  a  musical 
centre  of  decided  importance.  Montreal  and  Toronto 
always  were  cities  where  a  public  response  would  be 
assured  to  any  impresario  and  these  cities  were  in- 
variably included  in  the  itinerary  of  the  largest  and 
most  expensive  organizations,  but  the  most  optimistic 
never  hoped  that  such  an  achievement  as  has  been 


224 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfte 

recorded  for  the  first  attempt  to  give  Canada  a  perma- 
nent grand  opera  company  would  be  possible. 

Two  years  ago,  Ernest  Jeanotte,  an  impresario  pos- 
sessing intimate  knowledge  of  everything  pertaining  to 
music  and  musicians,  and  a  French-Canadian  gentle- 
man of  Montreal,  took  it  into  his  head  to  try  and  do 
for  his  native  city  that  which  has  been  possible  in  no 
other  city  of  its  size  in  America.  His  idea  was  that 
if  New  Orleans  could  support  grand  opera  for  half  a 
century,  Montreal  surely  ought  to  have  at  least  an  op- 
portunity. In  this  idea  he  was  encouraged  by  Mr. 
Frank  Meighan,  a  clubman  of  distinction  and  a  patron 
of  music  in  every  form.  Mr.  Meighan  was  the  one  to 
provide  the  sinews  of  war,  displaying  an  amazing  in- 
trepidity when  we  consider  how  precarious  such  an 
undertaking  was  regarded.  But  these  two  gentlemen, 
filled  with  enthusiasm  and  sincerity  of  purpose,  began 
to  do  things  in  so  earnest  a  manner  that  the  interest  of 
music  lovers  of  the  entire  Dominion  of  Canada  was 
aroused. 

The  results  of  the  first  year  of  the  enterprise  more 
than  justified  the  courage  and  herculean  effort  of  the 
originators,  while  the  season  of  1911-12  has  been  ex- 
tended to  a  term  never  before  accomplished  in  any 
American  city  of  double  the  size  of  Montreal. 

Canada  has  other  impresarios  in  its  midst.  L.  M. 
Ruben,  long  associated  with  Maurice  Grau,  and  the 
pioneer  of  musical  booking  bureaus  in  this  country, 
is  now  the  manager  of  Windsor  Hall  in  Montreal.  Mr. 
Ruben's  presence  in  the  Canadian  city  undoubtedly 
was  the  reason  for  the  visit  there  of  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House  Company  in  the  Spring  of  1911,  but  de- 
spite the  excellent  local  management  of  Mr.  Ruben, 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 225 

the  engagement  was  not  a  great  success  financially, 
and  in  this  connection  the  superior  performances  given 
by  the  Montreal  Opera  Company  during  the  Winter 
came  in  for  much  discussion,  with  the  opinion  prevalent 
that  Mr.  Jeanotte  had  demonstrated  his  ability  to  pre- 
sent grand  opera  so  satisfactorily  that  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  public  will  require  any  visits  from  outside  organi- 
zations. 

Dr.  Charles  Harris  has  been  an  important  factor  in 
the  musical  history  of  Canada  for  more  than  twenty 
years.  Here  again  have  we  the  musician  combined 
with  the  impresario  to  such  an  extent  that  Dr.  Harris* 
influence  has  brought  about  musical  conditions 
throughout  the  dominion  such  as  characterize  the 
most  artistic  of  Latin  countries.  Practically  all  of  the 
great  musical  organizations,  bands  and  great  soloists 
who  have  achieved  fame  in  Great  Britain  in  the  last 
two  decades  have  been  brought  to  Canada  by  this 
director.  Dr.  Harris  is  himself  a  composer  as  well  as 
conductor,  while  his  ability  as  an  organizer  of  large 
choral  bodies  is  equaled  only  by  his  capacity  for  train- 
ing them.  Naturally,  then,  it  was  not  surprising  that 
when  the  famous  Sheffield  Choir  elected  to  visit  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States,  Dr.  Harris  would  be 
selected  to  direct  the  tourney  which  broke  all  records 
for  receipts  and  enthusiasm. 

The  late  Stewart  Houston  was  another  potent  figure 
in  Canada's  musical  history.  This  gentleman  came  into 
the  limelight  through  the  erection  of  the  handsome 
Massey  Hall  in  Toronto,  and  it  was  with  the  advent 
of  this  superb  edifice  and  its  competent  director,  that 
Canada  began  to  be  reckoned  with  on  the  musical  map. 
Every  great  musical  celebrity  is  booked  for  this  hall 


226  _  C(u   ^tage    in   tie 

at  least  once  a  season,  when  available,  and  so  large 
have  been  the  returns  that  Mr.  Houston  was  invariably 
asked  to  direct  the  entire  Canadian  tours  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  greatest  musical  attractions  visiting 
Toronto. 

Outside  of  music,  Canada  is  progressing  in  splendid 
proportions  in  other  phases  of  the  stage.  The  leading 
manager  of  regular  theatres  in  the  dominion  is  Am- 
brose J.  Small,  a  man  who  has  come  to  his  present 
exalted  status  by  right  of  actual  conquest.  Mr.  Small 
had  been  a  theatrical  business  man  before  he  came  to 
Toronto  to  act  as  business  manager  of  one  of  the  many 
theatres  he  to-day  controls.  He  worked  hard  and  was 
content  not  to  shift  about  from  one  achievement  to 
another.  The  result  was  that  the  man  built  up  some- 
thing worth  while.  To-day  he  controls  practically 
eighty  per  cent,  of  the  theatres  of  Canada,  and  he  ac- 
complished this  solely  through  his  superiority  over  his 
rivals.  No  influence  was  exerted  in  his  behalf. 

Small  was  just  one  of  those  men  who  had  the  fore- 
sight and  intelligence  to  presume  that  by  sticking  to 
his  post  and  building  up  a  circuit,  his  power  to  dom- 
inate would  become  paramount.  Such  careers  are 
always  recorded  by  the  writer,  for  in  no  other  way 
can  a  better  incentive  be  provided  for  the  men  who 
seek  to  enter  the  amusement  calling. 


Theatrical  advertising  of  a  display  character  has 
greatly  declined  in  the  last  few  years,  and  in  modern 
times  the  tendency  is  to  confine  the  expenditure  to 
the  public  press.  Undoubtedly  this  state  of  affairs  is 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 227 

due  to  the  inability  of  the  amusement  caterer  to  cope 
with  the  large  mercantile  and  industrial  concerns  who 
have  come  forth  in  the  last  five  years,  absorbing  the 
billboards  all  over  the  country  until  the  theatre  no 
longer  conspicuously  figures  in  outdoor  billing. 

The  ingenuity  shown  by  the  men  who  have  charge 
of  the  publicity  of  large  corporations,  has  been  such 
that  the  showman  no  longer  stands  supreme  as  in  the 
days  of  Barnum,  Haverly  and  men  of  their  period  of 
activity.  It  is  an  actual  fact  that  J.  M.  Munyon  in 
the  advertising  of  his  medical  preparations,  has  made 
his  impress  less  from  great  expenditure  than  from  con- 
fining his  publicity  along  distinct  and  exclusive  lines. 
It  is  in  this  respect  that  the  theatrical  advertiser  has 
been  amiss.  Varying  his  announcements  and  failing 
to  typify  them  so  that  "he  who  runs  may  read,"  where- 
as the  spectacle  of  the  Munyon  portrait,  with  the  hand 
raised  in  a  warning  attitude,  has  been  on  view  for 
decades. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  theatrical  man  ever  evolved  a 
feature  in  advertising  to  compare  with  the  Victor 
Company's  projection  of  "His  Master's  Voice."  Un- 
questionably this  is  the  most  striking  and  unique  dis- 
play of  a  trade  mark  ever  exhibited  in  any  form, 
though  the  Columbia  Phonograph  Company  have 
shown  that  they,  too,  are  not  wanting  in  ingenuity, 
for  their  standard  advertising  of  two  ordinary  music 
notes  is  almost  as  well  known  and  understood  as  that 
of  their  competitor. 

But  the  theatrical  man  is  yet  potent  in  his  way, 
though  less  given  to  activity  through  lack  of  incentive. 
One  of  the  best  standard  catchlines  ever  per- 
petrated was  wasted  on  a  poor  vehicle  by  Maurice 


228 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfte 

Campbell,  who,  in  an  endeavor  to  attract  attention 
to  a  stupid  as  well  as  suggestive  farce,  used  the  line, 
"Take  your  wife,  she's  human,  too." 

Mark  Luescher,  however,  used  a  method  to  adver- 
tise his  first  offerings  as  a  manager,  that  was  both 
effective  and  refined.  His  mode  of  procedure  was  to 
reproduce  in  his  advertisements  the  expressions  of 
prominent  persons  who  had  approved  of  "The  Spring 
Maid"  and  "Miss  Fix  It."  He  also  changed  these  ad- 
vertisements every  day.  The  idea  was  not  new,  but 
none  had  ever  practiced  it  so  persistently  and  so 
effectively. 

The  catchline  used  to  advertise  George  Cohan's 
great  success,  "Get-Rich-Quick  Wallingford,"  could 
not  easily  have  been  bettered.  This  was  as  follows : 

"There's  one  born  every  minute,"  and  surely  in  view 
of  the  character  of  the  farce,  the  line  was  most  ap- 
propriate. 

No  theatrical  production  ever  had  a  catchline  to 
compare  with  the  one  used  by  John  T.  Raymond, 
when  appearing  in  Mark  Twain's  "The  Gilded  Age." 
In  this  instance  the  line  used  was  an  expression  from 
the  play,  viz:  "There's  millions  in  it."  This  was  so 
effective  that  the  title  of  the  play  was  practically  dis- 
carded, being  gradually  shifted  to  the  catch  phrase  as 
above. 

The  scenic  artist  has  gradually  arrived  at  his  goal. 
The  day  when  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  responsible 
for  the  scenic  establishment  of  great  productions  were 
inconspicuous  on  theatre  programmes  has  passed.  We 
may  have  to  wait  some  time  yet  for  the  spectacle  of 
the  scenic  artist  being  called  before  the  curtain  on 
first  nights  to  become  a  custom,  but  Arthur  Voetglin, 


Ctoentietft    Ceittutg 229 

whose  artistry  with  the  brush  makes  the  Hippodrome 
offerings  what  they  are,  has  been  featured  by  the 
Messrs.  Shubert  in  a  manner  equal  to  the  author,  and 
this  is  as  it  should  be;  though  it  is  greatly  to  be 
doubted  that  the  critics  of  the  metropolitan  press 
will  consent  to  pay  homage  to  the  achievements  of  the 
technical  staff  of  the  theatre. 

George  C.  Tyler,  with  that  sense  of  fairness  that 
has  characterized  his  successful  career  as  a  manager, 
has  lifted  the  name  of  Edward  Morange  into  the  lime- 
light. Mr.  Tyler  took  this  well-known  scenic  artist 
of  the  firm  of  Gates  and  Morange  to  the  Orient  with 
him,  where  they  were  joined  by  the  author,  Robert 
Hichens.  And  thus  the  superb  pictorial  investiture  of 
"The  Garden  of  Allah"  was  conceived. 

Such  artists  as  Messrs.  Voetglin  and  Morange, 
however,  are  merely  the  fortunate  ones.  Perhaps  the 
most  active  of  American  scene  painters  is  John  R. 
Young,  who  for  many  years  has  supplied  productions 
with  their  scenery.  His  studio  is  the  largest  in 
America.  The  writer,  in  a  desire  to  become  enlight- 
ened on  the  progress  in  this  industry,  paid  Mr.  Young 
a  visit.  I  asked  him  why  it  was  that  managers  neg- 
lected the  scenic  phase  of  stage  presentations,  and 
this  is  what  Mr.  Young  said : 

"For  some  unaccountable  reason  managers  wait  till 
the  last  few  days  before  a  production  before  they 
order  their  scenery.  In  one  production  very  recently 
the  cost  of  the  scenic  outfit  was  a  matter  of  very 
serious  consideration,  yet  the  manager  willingly  paid 
more  money  for  a  mat  (which  was  to  represent  grass 
and  covered  the  entire  stage)  than  the  entire  cost  of 
painting  the  three  scenes." 


230 Cfte   ^tage   in   tfre 

I  then  asked  Mr.  Young  if  he  thought  that  pan- 
tomime would  be  revived  in  the  near  future. 

"Yes,  I  think  the  time  is  near  when  we  will  not 
only  have  pantomime  but  a  veritable  renaissance,  but 
the  scenery  will  not  be  painted  on  red,  white  and  blue 
tin  foil,  as  of  old.  Instead,  we  will  have  the  greatest 
artists  of  the  brush  together  with  our  modern  mod- 
ellers. These  men,  with  our  present  expert  property 
men,  could  combine  to  evolve  a  pantomime  such  as 
would  attract  audiences  to  a  theatre  as  large  as  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House  for  two  years. 

"In  order  to  have  ready  for  use  at  a  moment's  notice 
photographs  of  every  part  of  the  world,"  continued 
Mr.  Young,  "I  have  sent  our  counsel  abroad  funds  in 
large  amounts  asking  them  to  have  a  photographer 
specially  'take'  picturesque  places  until  I  now  have 
thirty-eight  thousand  in  my  studio.  Thus  I  am  en- 
abled to  have  my  scenery  composed  to  suit  the  action 
of  the  play." 

Mr.  Young  paid  a  tribute  to  the  late  Jacob  Litt  that 
should  be  of  interest  and  is  given  here  in  the  artist's 
own  words. 

"Jacob  Litt  always  gave  a  carte  blanche  order  for 
scenes,  asking  for  the  very  best  that  could  be  painted, 
but  if  any  breakaways  were  to  take  place  in  the  scene 
such  as  a  falling  bridge  carrying  a  man  or  woman 
with  it,  he  always  demanded  that  I  be  the  first  one  to 
try  it.  This  naturally  had  the  tendency  to  make  me 
arrange  a  safe  fall.  This  method  was  adopted  by  the 
great  Salvini  at  Wallack's  old  theatre  when  he  pro- 
duced 'Samson'  and  the  breaking  away  of  the  temple 
as  he  pushed  aside  the  great  stone  columns,  causing 


Ctoentietft    Centutg  _  231 

the  entire  building  to  collapse,  was  rather  a  trying  test 
of  my  nerves." 


In  the  last  volume,  the  writer  was  emboldened  to 
prophesy  the  advent  of  opera  in  English,  which  for 
nearly  twenty  years  has  been  relegated  to  oblivion, 
save  for  the  operations  of  Henry  W.  Savage  and  the 
Messrs.  Aborn.  The  year  has  seen  a  really  noteworthy 
progress,  for  not  only  have  we  had  three  American 
grand  operas  presented  in  as  many  opera  houses  but 
the  Messrs.  Aborn  have  immeasurably  raised  the 
level  of  their  efforts.  Milton  Aborn  has  not  waited 
for  any  renaissance  to  come.  He  has  gone  on  year 
after  year,  and  for  the  last  few  years  has  been  the 
only  impresario  with  the  courage  to  present  opera  in 
English  at  all.  The  past  year  has  indeed  been  a  not- 
able one  for  the  Aborn  enterprises.  Six  complete 
grand  opera  organizations  in  as  many  cities  was  the 
inspiring  spectacle  on  view  throughout  the  Summer  of 
1911.  Mr.  Aborn  has  secured  not  only  the  highest 
grade  opera  houses  such  as  the  Boston  Opera  House 
and  Brooklyn  Academy  of  Music,  but  his  repertoire 
has  embraced  such  works  as  "Thais,"  "Madam  But- 
terfly," "Les  Contes  D'Hoffmann,"  "La  Boheme"  and 
"Aida."  These  have  been  rendered  with  competent 
casts,  augmented  by  chorus  and  orchestra,  and  avail- 
able to  the  public  at  a  scale  of  prices  a  shade  lower 
than  the  regular  charge  for  ordinary  attractions. 

Surely  opera  in  English  is  given  a  greater  impetus 
by  such  efforts,  practical  and  convincing  as  they  are, 
than  by  the  sudden  interest  of  "opera  clubs"  whose 


232  Cfte^tageintfte 

members  have  to  a  great  extent  heretofore,  been 
openly  opposed  to  opera  in  the  vernacular.  The 
Aborns  will  probably  be  presenting  the  greatest  works 
and  novelties  as  they  develop  abroad  and  at  the  Met- 
ropolitan Opera  House  long  after  these  "public-spirited 
reformers"  have  been  relegated  to  oblivion. 

Opera  in  English  does  not  mean  merely  American 
grand  opera,  and  it  would  be  a  great  injustice  to  a 
worthy  line  of  endeavor  to  shoulder  it  with  such  a 
burden,  for  while  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  this 
country  will  provide  composers  and  librettists  galore, 
grand  opera  in  English  must  always  be  cosmopolitan 
in  its  resources  to  draw  from.  No  one  recognizes 
this  more  than  that  intrepid  but  discerning  impresario, 
Henry  W.  Savage,  whose  production  in  English  of 
the  Puccini  opera,  "The  Girl  of  the  Golden  West," 
is  an  illustration.  Mr.  Savage  believes  that  our  opera 
houses  must  eventually  cater  to  the  masses  and  that 
grand  opera  cannot  become  a  strictly  musical  institu- 
tion until  it  ceases  to  be  a  social  fad. 

Even  if  the  three  operas  by  native  writers  and  com- 
posers presented  in  the  Spring  of  1911,  were  not  to 
prove  enduring,  nothing  will  be  proved  as  to  the  ten- 
ability  of  opera  in  English;  but  such  works  as  "Na- 
toma,"  "The  Sacrifice"  and  "Twilight"  represent  but 
one  phase  of  the  whole  scheme  and  yet  the  first  of 
these,  the  only  one  to  be  rendered  in  the  Metropoli- 
tan Opera  House,  up  to  this  writing,  had  three  rep- 
resentations within  as  many  weeks,  and  each  drew  a 
capacity  audience  without  being  included  in  the  regu- 
lar subscription  series. 

The  public  press  has  devoted  pages  to  the  subject 
of  grand  opera  in  English  in  the  last  year.  This  is 


CHRISTIE   MAcDONALD 


MARGARET  \V.   LAWRENCE  BESSIE    McCOY 

Stage  Favorites  of  This  Period 


Ctoentietft    Centtitg 233 

indeed  a  concession,  and  the  outcome  of  the  contest 
inaugurated  by  the  public-spirited  directorate  of  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House  will  greatly  add  to  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  moment,  for  in  this  instance  the 
opera  selected  by  the  judges,  "Mona,"  has  been  col- 
laborated in  by  two  gentlemen  recognized  all  over  the 
world  for  their  accomplishments.  The  score  of  this 
work  is  by  Horatio  W.  Parker,  of  Yale  University, 
and  a  composer  of  great  distinction.  Moreover  he  is 
a  great  enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  national  opera, 
and  has  been  an  active  factor  in  the  present  movement 
for  furthering  the  efforts  of  American  composers.  The 
libretto  is  the  work  of  Bryan  Hooker,  long  a  colleague 
of  Mr.  Parker  at  Yale,  and  the  combination  is  regarded 
as  one  of  great  promise.  Heretofore  the  trouble  with 
native  opera  has  been  the  lack  of  good  librettos ;  there- 
fore, it  is  fortunate  that  the  judges  in  this  contest 
selected  a  work  already  collaborated  on  and  ready  for 
the  preparatory  stage. 

Unquestionably  other  operas  in  this  contest  will 
be  found  worthy  of  production  besides  the  winning 
score.  Herr  Dippel  has  already  announced  that  opera 
in  English  will  form  a  vital  part  in  the  plans  of  the 
Chicago  Opera  Company  in  the  future,  and  it  is  this 
impresario's  intention  to  present  Wagner's  operas,  in- 
cluding the  Trilogy,  in  the  language  of  our  nation. 
The  Messrs.  Aborn  are  to  add  to  their  already 
extensive  repertoire,  "Samson  and  Delilah,"  "Pelleas 
and  Melisande,"  "The  Juggler  of  Notre  Dame,"  and 
"Koenigs  Kinder,"  while  such  already  accepted  com- 
posers as  Arthur  Nevin,  Frederick  Converse  and 
Victor  Herbert  will  be  heard  from  with  new  works. 

Since  the  above  was  written,   "Mona,"   the  prize 


234 Cfae    g>tage    in    tftg 

opera  by  Messrs.  Parker  and  Hooker,  has  been  pre- 
sented four  times  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House, 
and  has  indicated  a  marked  advance  in  the  opera-in- 
English  movement. 

The  New  Theatre,  in  another  year,  will  revert  to 
the  founders,  who  have  temporarily  leased  the  mag- 
nificent playhouse  to  George  Tyler.  The  plans  call  for 
an  operatic  scheme  in  the  season  of  1913-14,  with  a 
view  to  relieving  the  congestion  at  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House,  though  Mr.  Otto  H.  Kahn  has  stated 
that  if  the  inclusion  of  opera  in  English  at  the  latter 
institution  does  not  work  well,  a  separate  opera  house 
will  be  erected  for  the  purpose;  hence  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  the  New  Theatre  may  become  ultimately 
the  permanent  home  of  opera  in  English. 

The  question  of  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  Manhattan 
Opera  House  looms  up  here  and  becomes  an  interest- 
ing subject.  Oscar  Hammerstein,  by  reason  of  his 
withdrawal  from  grand  opera  direction  in  this  coun- 
try for  a  period  of  ten  years,  has  found  this  superb 
establishment  a  difficult  proposition.  Within  a  year 
he  has  tried  three  different  grades  of  stage  offerings. 
First  he  presented  opera  comique,  or  rather  light 
opera,  and  his  production  of  M.  Ganne's  "Hans  the 
Flute  Player,"  established  a  new  era  in  this  country, 
but  the  box  office  results  were  disappointing  and  the 
intrepid  Oscar  was  reluctantly  forced  to  make  a  music 
hall  of  his  favorite  opera  house.  The  public  response 
was  again  nil,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  season  of 
1910-11  the  Manhattan  became  a  combination  theatre, 
operated  by  the  Messrs.  Shubert  on  lines  similar  to 
those  prevailing  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  for  many 
years. 


Ctocntietf)    Centtitg 235 

Mr.  Hammerstein  himself  has  found  an  outlet  for 
his  unparalleled  energy  in  London,  where  in  Novem- 
ber, 1911,  he  inaugurated  an  opera  house  erected  by 
himself,  a  season  of  grand  opera  along  lines  similar 
to  those  which  characterized  his  tenancy  of  the  Man- 
hattan Opera  House.  Before  sailing  for  England  the 
impresario  cherished  a  hope  to  which  he  gave  apt  ex- 
pression, to  the  effect  that  he  expected  to  return  to 
New  York  and  give  grand  opera  again  "one  of  these 
days,"  which  means  that  he  hopes  to  compromise  with 
the  directors  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  who 
paid  him  about  one  million  dollars  to  refrain  from 
competing  with  them  for  ten  years. 

Such  a  compromise  ought  not  to  be  deemed  im- 
possible for,  aside  from  the  rivalry  existing  between 
the  two  opera  houses  when  pitted  against  each  other, 
there  is  no  gainsaying  but  that  Oscar  Hammerstein 
provided  the  directors  of  the  older  opera  house  with 
much  needed  incentive,  and  this  has  been  wholly 
lacking  since  his  departure  from  the  scene.  New  York 
with  its  five  million  souls  and  a  tremendous  suburban 
population  can  support  more  than  one  opera  house, 
and  if  there  are  to  be  two  or  even  three,  then  indeed 
would  it  be  a  pity  if  the  most  worthy  impresario  of 
this  generation  must  needs  absent  himself  from  the 
environment  he  so  gracefully  adorned.  However, 
Oscar  is  always  making  "deals"  and  his  ambition  is 
only  equalled  by  his  patriotism;  therefore,  if  Oscar 
prospers  in  London,  he  will  surely  want  to  come 
back  here  and  show  his  countrymen  the  kind  of  opera 
he  conjured  the  English  with;  whereas,  if  he  fails — 
a  remote  possibility — he  will  probably  be  compelled  to 
find  a  way  to  resume  his  career  in  this  country. 


236 Cfre    g)tage    in    tfte 

Writing  on  the  subject  of  prophecies,  those  uttered 
in  the  previous  volume  have  been  quite  generally  ful- 
filled, particularly  that  which  had  to  do  with  the  sub- 
ject of  theatre  ticket  speculation.  At  the  time  of  issue 
of  the  last  volume  the  ticket  speculator  was  the  source 
of  continuous  complaint,  and  the  men  in  this  industry 
became  so  persistent  and  annoying  to  theatre  patrons 
that  such  a  law  as  is  now  placed  on  the  statute  books 
was  simply  inevitable. 

At  that  time  the  writer  predicted  that  the  English 
library  system  would  have  vogue  in  this  country  in 
due  course,  and  this  is  now  true,  though  the  methods 
of  operation  are  not  quite  the  same.  Still  the  sustain- 
ing feature  of  both  is  the  opening  of  ticket  offices  in 
popular  thoroughfares  and  the  creation  of  a  clientele 
by  giving  credit  accommodation  for  seats  purchased. 

This  policy  of  paying  a  premium  for  theatre  tickets, 
at  the  same  time  securing  choice  seats  and  paying  for 
same  at  the  end  of  each  month  has  appealed  to  thous- 
ands of  playgoers,  and  proves  once  more  that  the 
opera  and  play-loving  patrons  will  not  stand  in  line  for 
hours  to  avoid  payment  of  a  premium. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  less  than  twenty  per 
cent,  of  the  seats  sold  for  our  playhouses  are  disposed 
of  at  the  box  offices.  In  fact,  about  fifty  per  cent,  are 
purchased  at  either  Tyson's,  Rullman's,  McBride's 
and  Alexander's,  and  a  goodly  portion  of  the  other 
thirty  per  cent,  get  their  reservations  from  the  New 
York  Ticket  Library  in  West  Forty-second  Street, 
with  a  downtown  branch.  These  "libraries"  are  con- 
ducted by  Leon  Levy,  the  first  to  establish  the  English 
system. 


CtoentUtj)    Centurg  237 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Out  in  Seattle  one  man  has  been  plotting  and  plan- 
ning behind  a  desk,  when  it  is  not  his  province  to 
make  his  presence  felt  in  a  half-dozen  other  large  cen- 
tres, where  his  interests  are  quite  as  large  as  in  the 
city  where  he  makes  the  headquarters  for  the  vast 
institution  known  as  the  Sullivan  &  Considine  circuit 
of  vaudeville  theatres. 

Mr.  Considine  began  in  a  small  way  less  than  a 
decade  ago,  but  he  quickly  found  out  that  he  had  em- 
braced a  prolific  field  and  his  pioneer  work  has  left 
its  impress  in  nearly  every  city  west  of  Cincinnati, 
while  the  expansion  has  now  become  so  pronounced 
that  it  does  not  require  any  very  great  wrench  of  the 
imagination  to  assume  that  the  Sullivan  &  Considine 
circuit  is  due  to  become  the  most  extensive  chain  of 
theatres  operated  by  one  management. 

Like  the  Orpheum  circuit,  the  majority  of  the  thea- 
tres are  owned  outright  by  these  two  magnates  who, 
from  starting  right  and  carrying  out  a  well  defined 
campaign,  have  in  the  short  space  of  ten  years  created 
a  tremendous  enterprise,  capitalized  in  the  millions, 
and  the  earning  capacity  of  which  is  perhaps  the  larg- 
est of  any  theatrical  concern  in  this  country. 

The  theatres  built  by  Sullivan  &  Considine,  even  at 
the  outset,  were  far  superior  in  construction  and 
beauty  to  those  previously  in  use  in  the  cities  selected 
and  this  has  had  a  vital  effect  on  the  patronage,  for 


238  Cfte   Stage   in   tfie 

the  policy  of  the  firm  has  always  been  to  present  to 
its  enormous  public,  a  high  grade  performance  at  low 
prices  in  theatres  of  unsurpassed  beauty  and  erected 
along  the  most  advanced  lines  of  modern  architecture. 

Mr.  Considine  is  of  all  things  a  hard  worker.  He 
is  in  every  one  of  his  theatres  at  least  twice  a  year,  and 
he  personally  looks  after  the  newer  theatres  until  they 
reach  the  developed  stage,  where  their  future  success 
is  beyond  all  doubt. 

Despite  the  low  prices  for  seats  in  these  playhouses, 
the  programmes  are  really  extraordinary,  and  to  me  it 
is  simply  amazing  that  in  the  cities  where  the  Or- 
pheum  circuit  operate  at  higher  prices,  the  two  do  not 
conflict;  for  it  is  no  reflection  on  the  latter  to  observe 
that  the  difference  in  the  programmes  is  not  so  much 
one  of  merit  as  in  the  number  of  acts  presented,  and 
even  in  this  respect,  there  is  a  gradual  broadening 
until  the  public  patronage  reaches  a  capacity  basis, 
which  is  surely  maintained. 

These  theatres  are  open  fifty-two  weeks  a  year.  The 
receipts  do  not  vary  from  week  to  week  to  any  extent. 
Every  day  is  a  holiday,  as  far  as  the  box  office  records 
go,  and  the  only  difference  between  Sunday  and  Mon- 
day patronage  is  due  to  an  extra  performance  to  ac- 
commodate the  crowds.  Since  Mr.  Considine  achieved 
this  remarkable  success  in  the  West,  others  have  fol- 
lowed, but  the  discipline  that  characterizes  the  con- 
duct of  the  older  concern  is  lacking  in  these,  and  none 
have  the  prestige  with  the  public  or  the  profession  that 
has  always  stamped  the  firm  of  Sullivan  &  Considine. 

The  New  York  offices  of  this  great  vaudeville  en- 
terprise are  constantly  being  enlarged  to  meet  the  in- 
creased demands,  and  these  are  in  charge  of  Christo- 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 239 

pher  O.  Brown,  who  is  a  veritable  encyclopedia  on  the 
value  of  acts.  Mr.  Brown  came  to  New  York  five 
years  ago  to  reorganize  the  system  in  vogue  in  these 
offices,  and  he  certainly  did  create  an  upheaval.  Such 
men  as  Mr.  Brown  represent  the  rising  generation  in 
the  business  department  of  the  theatre  at  its  best.  His 
courtesy  to  the  player  is  worthy  of  mention  also. 

Elsewhere  in  the  present  volume  the  author  has 
dwelt  on  the  part  played  in  stage  offerings  by  the 
technical  staff  of  a  theatre,  and  these  impressions  may 
be  emphasized  in  any  effort  to  explain  the  vast  devel- 
opment in  the  film  industry.  Success  of  the  most  pro- 
nounced kind  did  not  come  to  the  motion  picture  at 
the  outset.  The  newcomers  into  the  field  of  the  silent 
drama  have  solved  the  truly  great  problems,  and  of 
these  none  have  achieved  more  than  Josef  H.  Hall- 
berg,  who  has  prospered  because  he  has  mastered 
every  phase  of  the  philosophy  and  technique  of  the 
photo-play,  as  well  as  the  equipment  of  the  thousands 
of  theatres  where  this  type  of  entertainment  holds 
forth.  In  1904  Mr.  Hallberg  came  into  great  promi- 
nence in  the  motion  picture  field  as  a  result  of  the 
vogue  of  his  own  invention,  an  automatic  electric 
economizer  to  be  used  in  place  of  rheostats  for  the  con- 
trol of  various  arc  lamps  in  projection. 

The  saving  in  operation  has  been  so  great  that  many 
imitations  have  resulted,  but  as  in  the  case  of  all  pio- 
neer service,  Mr.  Hallberg  alone  has  prospered. 

One  must  investigate  the  workings  of  an  institution 
such  as  the  house  of  Hallberg  is  in  order  to  form  a 
concrete  idea  of  the  enormous  business  conducted 
within  its  four  walls,  and  when  it  is  stated  that  this 
electrical  expert  has  installed  the  equipment  of 


240  Cfje^tagente 

nearly  all  of  the  larger  chains  of  motion  pic- 
ture theatres,  such  as  Keith  and  Proctor's,  Wil- 
mer  and  Vincent's,  F.  T.  Montgomery  and  their 
kind,  some  idea  of  Mr.  Hall  berg's  standing  in  the 
film  world  may  be  formed.  Here  we  have  a  man  who, 
although  his  own  inventions  have  "blazed  the  trail" 
for  others,  his  business  policy  is  such  that  he  is  always 
ready  to  provide  the  apparatus  of  competitive  invent- 
ors. This  is  so  generally  known  among  exhibitors 
that  the  majority  of  them  turn  over  their  theatres  for 
entire  equipment  to  him,  while  manufacturers  of  the 
highest  grade  are  content  to  have  Mr.  Hallberg  repre- 
sent them  practically  exclusively. 


At  last  there  is  everything  to  indicate  that  after  a 
half  century's  reign  without  a  rival  appearing  on  the 
horizon,  the  mantle  of  Adelina  Parti,  queen  of  song, 
is  about  to  fall  upon  Luisa  Tetrazzini. 

This  statement  is  not  made  carelessly — for  the  prob- 
lem as  to  whether  a  new  diva  would  come  in  this  gen- 
eration has  been  too  serious  to  trifle  with.  It  must 
be  understood  that  Parti  was  as  unique  an  institution 
as  this  country  has  ever  possessed.  The  qualities  she 
conjured  with  were  assets  no  other  singer  of  her  time 
could  boast  of,  and  "a  new  Parti"  hag  to  achieve  certain 
records,  such  as  the  following: 

"Adelina  Patti  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  never  had 
less  than  $4,000  a  night,  and  was  paid  as  high  as 
$5,000  a  night." 


Ctoentietfr    Centurg 241 

"Patti  is  the  only  singer  who  could  draw  an  audi- 
ence representing  $10,000  or  more  at  the  box  office  by 
the  sheer  potency  of  her  name — and  this,  too,  in 
concert." 

No  artist — not  even  Caruso — has  ever  approached 
the  Patti  record.  Caruso  is  paid  $2,000  a  night.  He 
can  draw  a  $10,000  house  in  opera,  but  not  in  concert. 
Patti  drew  $15,000  in  opera,  whereas  the  great  tenor 
could  not  be  relied  on  to  draw  $10,000  in  concert. 
Paderewski  has  drawn  $6,000  often,  giving  alone  the 
entire  programme,  and  he  has  earned  as  high  as  $3,000 
on  a  single  appearance,  but  his  average  has  been 
much  less  than  this,  so  that  on  the  male  side  the  diva 
has  had  nothing  to  fear  in  the  way  of  a  rival. 

Melba  has  been  paid  as  high  as  $2,500  a  night.  She 
has  drawn  houses  averaging  from  $5,000  to  $8,000. 
She  could  not  command  $5,  $6  and  $7  for  seats  as 
Patti  did,  and  no  singer  of  either  sex  ever  could  attract 
the  public  at  these  prices  for  concert. 

Emma  Calve  was  paid  $1,750  a  night  in  her  zenith. 
She  was  a  tremendous  drawing  card  as  "Carmen,"  and 
could  draw  a  $10,000  house  with  this  opera,  but  in 
concert  she  could  not  approach  Patti  in  any  way. 

A  few  years  ago  the  writer  was  in  San  Francisco. 
At  the  time  there  was  much  ado  about  an  Italian 
singer  with  a  remarkable  coloratura  voice  who  was 
holding  sway  at  the  Tivoli — a  popular  resort  not  far 
removed  from  a  beer  garden.  Here  sang  four  times  a 
week  Luisa  Tetrazzini.  A  good  seat  was  to  be  had 
for  50  cents,  but  the  prices  were  afterward  raised — 
for  it  became  necessary  for  the  management  to  pay  the 
new  diva  an  increased  honorarium.  Instead  of  $350  a 
week,  that  sum  a  night  was  allotted  to  the  song  bird, 


242 Cl)c   ^>tage    in   ttu 

who  created  such  a  furore  in  San  Francisco  that  the 
managers  were  quick  to  adjust  the  financial  consid- 
erations. 

The  writer  after  having  sat  spellbound  during  the 
remarkable  singing  of  Tetrazzini,  wrote  to  New  York 
of  his  impressions,  and  these  reports  reached  the  Met- 
ropolitan Opera  House,  where  a  brother  of  the  writer 
was  in  the  last  year  of  his  consulship  of  that  estab- 
lishment. 

It  became,  however,  the  province  of  Tetrazzini  to 
go  to  London,  where,  at  Covent  Garden,  she  registered 
so  sensational  a  "hit"  that  she  became  the  vogue  there, 
outshining  even  Melba  in  the  records  she  achieved. 
The  new  diva  had  now  reached  a  status  wherein  her 
nightly  honorarium  was  listed  in  four  figures.  More- 
over, she  drew  audiences  in  grand  opera  as  large  as 
any  singer  in  the  history  of  Covent  Garden. 

Both  of  the  New  York  opera  houses  were  now  in 
competition  for  her  services,  but  Oscar  Hammerstein 
was  the  fortunate  impresario  to  secure  a  contract  with 
her.  For  three  years  Tetrazzini  appeared  at  the  Man- 
hattan Opera  House,  rarely  facing  an  empty  seat.  The 
receipts  at  the  box  office  when  she  sang  were  more 
often  in  excess  of  $10,000  than  below  that  sum,  and 
excepting  Caruso,  no  other  singer  or  combination  of 
singers  could  attract  such  audiences  to  an  opera 
house. 

Patti's  records,  however,  as  queen  of  song,  were 
yet  safe.  No  one  could  command  the  amount  of  com- 
pensation she  received — no  singer  could  command  the 
prices  at  the  box  office  charged  for  her  appearances — 
and  none  could  draw  either  in  concert  or  in  opera 
the  gross  receipts  recorded  whenever  and  wherever 


Ctoentietft    Centtirp  243 

she  would  sing.  But  it  was  on  her  last  concert  tour 
that  the  new  diva  showed  that  she  possesses  the  quali- 
ties which  made  Patti  supreme.  Tetrazzini  has  drawn 
$10,000  audiences  to  concerts.  She  has  been  able  to 
command  prices  at  the  box  office  for  seats  a  shade 
higher  than  any  other  singer  except  Patti,  and  is  being 
paid  more  for  her  singing  by  her  present  manager  than 
has  ever  been  granted  to  any  artist  in  the  realm  of 
music,  Patti  alone  excepted. 

Tetrazzini  is  now  carrying  everything  before  her; 
the  same  excitement  in  the  cities  she  appears  in,  so 
vividly  recall  Patti's  furore  that  the  newcomer  is 
being  hailed  everywhere  as  "the  new  diva."  The  spec- 
tacle of  hundreds  of  persons  standing  in  line  for  hours 
in  all  sorts  of  weather,  so  common  in  the  famous  Patti 
tours,  is  again  on  view  in  nearly  every  city  visited  by 
the  younger  singer. 

Tetrazzini  also  possesses  the  quality  of  coquetry — 
one  of  Patti's  greatest  assets — and  the  same  scenes 
after  the  concerts,  at  the  footlights  and  at  the  stage 
door,  when  Patti  was  wont  to  "jolly"  her  auditors, 
are  being  played  over  again.  The  new  diva  sings 
practically  the  same  arias  and  uses  the  same  compel- 
ling numbers  for  her  encores  that  Patti  did — thus, 
while  Patti's  achievements  were  such  that  perhaps  no 
singer  can  hope  to  wholly  approach,  there  is  every  in- 
dication that  Luisa  Tetrazzini  will  be  generally  re- 
garded as  her  successor,  with  every  probability  that 
her  vogue  will  continue  to  increase  until  she  becomes 
the  absolute  "Queen  of  Song,"  if  indeed  that  title  it 
not  justly  hers  by  right  of  present  achievements. 

•§»    *    * 


244  Cfie    S>tage   in    tfte 

The  firm  of  Rowland  &  Clifford  is  unique,  in  that 
it  has  passed  through  a  renaissance  period  within  the 
last  two  years.  The  two  have  been  together  for  a 
number  of  seasons,  have  done  many  plays — some 
good,  some  lacking  that  appeal  which  all  managers 
strive  to  attain,  but  through  it  all  have  preserved  one 
absolute  rule  from  which  there  was  no  deviation,  viz: 
nothing  in  any  way  suggestive,  nor  that  could  by  any 
stretch  of  the  imagination  be  twisted  into  a  double 
meaning,  was  tolerated  or  even  considered  for  a 
moment  in  any  of  their  productions. 

About  three  years  ago  they  dissolved.  There  was 
no  friction,  no  discord.  Both  felt  the  need  of  a  fresh 
outlook.  Mr.  Clifford  devoted  his  efforts  to  the  Na- 
tional Theatre,  a  new  playhouse  that  he  had  built  on 
the  south  side,  and  Mr.  Rowland  managed  sev- 
eral road  attractions,  both  looking  for  something  new, 
the  somewhat  different  play,  one  that  would  set  a  new 
pace,  a  new  mark,  and  at  the  same  time,  would  lift 
the  dramatic  standard. 

At  last  it  came,  just  as  it  always  must  come  to  any 
man  who  is  willing  to  take  the  time,  the  patience  and 
the  trouble.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  "The  Rosary." 

With  this  play  the  firm  have  broken  new  ground,  and 
have  set  a  new  standard.  This  season  there  are  seven 
companies  playing  this  piece,  which  so  far  as  I  know 
is  the  world's  record  for  separate  organizations  play- 
ing the  same  play.  This  season  Rowland  &  Clifford 
are  presenting  Mr.  David  Lewis  in  a  farce  "Don't  Lie 
to  Your  Wife." 

As  a  companion  play  to  "The  Rosary,"  this  firm  pro- 
duced this  season  another  drama  by  the  same  author, 
Edward  E.  Rose.  It  is  called  "Rock  Of  Ages,"  and 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 245 

deals  with  certain  evils  of  our  modern  life  and  its  en- 
vironment. They  also  have  a  company  playing  Mr. 
Hartley  Manners'  comedy,  "The  House  Next  Door." 
Wm.  V.  Mong,  an  actor  yet  unknown,  but  one  that 
must  be  reckoned  with,  is  playing  the  leading  part. 

e$»     ege     ef* 

Commercial  records,  if  investigated,  would  show 
that  possibly  no  other  commercial  concern  is  con- 
ducted along  the  lines  of  distribution  followed  by  the 
Motion  Picture  Sales  Company.  To  this  concern  has 
been  given  the  exclusive  agencies  for  the  products  of 
all  the  independent  manufacturers  and  importers  regu- 
larly releasing  moving  picture  films  in  the  country  at 
the  time  of  the  Sales  Company's  reorganization  in 
Chicago  in  May,  1910. 

The  Sales  Company  was  conceived  by  Charles  O. 
Baumann  and  Ad  Kessel  and  organized  by  them,  Carl 
Laemmle  and  Edwin  Thanhouser,  at  a  time  when 
they,  P.  A.  Powers  and  David  Horsley  were  the  only 
independent  manufacturers  in  this  country,  prepared 
to  release  regularly  each  week.  Its  history,  dating 
from  December,  1909,  and  January,  1910,  would  record 
simply  a  series  of  "labor  pains"  leading  up  to  the 
Chicago  event  of  May  7,  1910,  when  a  lusty  youngster 
was  presented  to  the  waiting  independent  film  world, 
to  show  it  the  only  way  films  could  be  successfully 
made  and  marketed  outside  the  trust  coterie.  This 
child  had  the  advantage  of  possessing  all  the  experi- 
ence gathered  in  the  unsuccessful  attempts  of  indi- 
viduals to  corner  the  independent  supply,  consisting, 
up  to  that  time,  mostly  of  European  products.  Com- 
ing as  he  did  from  the  brains  of  Baumann,  Laemmle, 
Kessel,  Swanson,  Miles,  Powers  and  Steiner,  he  knew 


246 C&e    S>tage    in    ti)g 

moving  picture  history  all  through  the  wildcat  days. 
He  brought  with  him,  as  from  a  past  incarnation, 
memories  of  the  days  when  all  would  dupe  anything 
worth  duping,  and  few  films  indeed  were  passed  over 
in  those  days  as  being  unworthy  of  that  now  thor- 
oughly condemned  craftsmanship.  He  saw  again  the 
day  when  the  biograph  with  their  large  stock  of  un- 
wieldy, wide  films,  were  beset  by  the  exhibitors  for  the 
standard  size  film,  and  to  meet  the  demand,  they  re- 
duced by  a  reprinting  process  their  wide  films  to  the 
standard  sizes,  losing  so  much  in  the  process  as  to 
render  results  that  would  be  considered  nowadays  aa 
junk,  but  which  were  then  gobbled  up  by  the  hundred 
thousand  feet  at  ten  to  twelve  cents  per  foot. 

The  Sales  Company  is  an  agency  organized  with 
capital  outside  and  distinct  from  all  manufacturing  in- 
terests and  is  distributing  and  willing  to  distribute 
the  product  of  any  independent  manufacturer  or  im- 
porter on  a  commission  basis  so  far  as  they  consider 
the  requirements  of  the  market  demand.  By  its  sys- 
tem of  collections  on  films  distributed  by  it,  and  the 
prompt  payment  to  the  independent  manufacturers 
for  their  products,  the  Sales  Company  has  enabled 
the  manufacturers  to  consistently  and  steadily  improve 
their  output.  If  any  of  the  manufacturers  now  dis- 
tributing through  the  Sales  Company  at  the  present 
time  are  not  making  films  of  a  sufficiently  high  stan- 
dard, it  is  not  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  not  trying 
nor  to  the  fact  that  they  are  not  putting  sufficient 
money  in  their  equipment  and  negatives. 

With  the  assistance  rendered  by  the  Sales  Company 
the  independent  manufacturers  found  their  orders 
growing  week  after  week.  In  fact,  the  Sales  Com- 


Ctoenticti)    Centutg  _  247 

pany  record  shows  an  uninterrupted  weekly  increase 
in  sales.  With  the  orders  pouring  in  the  manufactur- 
ers were  brought  to  realize  that  they  were  destined  to 
receive  better  returns  on  their  investments  than  they 
had  anticipated  in  so  short  a  time,  and  with  the  true 
spirit  of  game  men  they  declined  to  declare  dividends, 
but  fired  their  profits  back  into  their  business.  Big 
plants  were  started  and  every  dollar  obtained  was 
turned  into  improvement  of  film  quality.  They  have 
vied  with  one  another  in  getting  stock  companies  of 
performers,  laboratory  staffs  and  new  mechanical 
equipment.  They  are  paying  big  prices  for  men  with 
records  of  efficiency,  and  the  picture  loving  public 
have  felt  the  new  force  and  are  everywhere  clamorous 
for  the  independent  products  handled  by  the  Sales 
Company.  The  exchanges,  discovering  themselves 
backed  up  by  real  earnest  effort,  have  gone  after  trade 
with  double  energy,  and  exhibitors,  quick  to  observe 
the  new  possibilities,  have  broken  away  from  their 
former  sources  of  supply  and  hundreds  of  houses  have 
been  reopened  with  independent  films  that  were  com- 
pelled to  close  on  account  of  their  inability  to  secure 
a  non-competitive  programme. 

There  are  more  and  better  places  of  exhibition  in 
this  country  now  than  ever,  and  all  due  to  the  efforts 
of  the  independent  manufacturers  backed  up  by  the 
untiring  efforts  of  their  agents,  the  Motion  Picture 
Distributing  and  Sales  Company. 


In  viewing  the  ruins  of  the  great  Roman  Coliseum 
a  student  in  matters  theatrical  is  apt  to  be  interested 


248 Cfte   g>tage    in    tfte 

in  the  matter  of  handling  and  seating  such  a  vast  as- 
semblage of  people  that  must  have  gathered  within  the 
walls  of  that  colossal  structure  and  the  several  amphi- 
theatres in  Antioch  and  other  provinces  of  imperial 
Rome  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  That 
tickets  of  admission  were  in  vogue  we  know  by  the 
terra  cotta  tickets  taken  from  the  ruins  of  Pompeii  and 
Herculaneum,  and  now  in  the  Royal  Museum  at 
Naples.  Recent  archaeological  excavations  have  un- 
earthed tablets  of  admission  of  far  remoter  epochs, 
showing  conclusively  that  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the 
world  the  ticket  had  its  place. 

However  fascinating  and  interesting  this  feature  of 
the  subject  may  be,  it  is  the  evolution  of  the  present 
day  theatrical  coupon  ticket  that  we  are  to  trace.  In 
Colonial  and  Revolutionary  days  the  tickets  in  use 
were  either  written  or  printed  on  indifferent  paper, 
and  if  used  for  reserved  seat  purposes  the  seat  number 
was  marked  in  ink  or  pencil.  Indeed,  the  crude  hand 
numbering  continued  until  twenty  years  ago  in  some 
of  the  smaller  towns  in  the  country,  and  is  still  in  use 
in  sparsely  settled  sections.  This  archaic  system  is 
in  use  in  many  of  the  theatres  in  the  large  cities  of 
Europe  at  the  present  time.  There  was  compara- 
tively little  advance  or  improvement  in  reserved  seat 
coupon  tickets  until  after  the  Civil  War.  They  were 
printed  with  a  somewhat  insignificant  date  line  and 
had  no  distinctive  features  to  readily  distinguish  one 
date  from  another. 

About  1870,  when  the  country  was  taking  new 
breath  to  begin  those  gigantic  strides  that  have  placed 
it  in  the  first  row,  a  remarkable  revival  was  taking 
place  in  amusements,  and  with  increased  population 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 249 

due  in  part  to  emigrants  who  brought  inherited  tastes 
for  dramatic  and  musical  entertainment,  the  attend- 
ance at  theatres  largely  increased,  and  the  necessity 
for  quickly  handling  the  large  audiences  created  a  de- 
mand for  a  better  ticket. 

In  the  development  of  the  present  day  reserved  seat 
coupon  ticket,  the  improvement  began  by  changing 
the  color  of  the  tickets  daily,  followed  by  a  greater 
advance  in  the  consecutive  numbering  of  the  perform- 
ances. The  quality  of  the  ticket  improved  in  texture 
and  coloring  as  the  years  went  by,  while  the  seat  num- 
bering became  larger  and  clearer.  In  this  progressive 
improvement  three  men  stand  out  as  pioneers — the 
late  A.  H.  Seer,  of  New  York;  W.  E.  Hering,  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  E.  A.  Henkle,  of  Washington.  After  the 
death  of  Mr.  Seer  the  other  two  gentlemen  joined 
forces,  and  out  of  their  combined  energy  and  inventive 
genius  was  created  the  Globe  Ticket  Company,  the 
largest  establishment  producing  theatrical  and  amuse- 
ment tickets  in  this  country  and  possibly  in  the  whole 
world. 

In  1886  John  B.  Porter  obtained  a  patent  for  a  ticket 
with  a  seat  number  on  both  ends  and  about  the  samo 
time  W.  E.  Hering  secured  a  patent  for  a  ticket 
printed  and  numbered  on  both  sides. 

Finally  a  ticket  was  evolved  which  is  in  use  in  the 
metropolitan  theatres  to-day,  in  which  the  date  and 
seat  number  are  clear  and  bold,  conveying  alike  to 
purchaser,  treasurer  and  usher  at  a  glance  all  that  each 
is  required  to  know. 

Time  and  costly  experience  demonstrated  the  ne- 
cessity for  protection  to  the  management  against  the 
objectionable  element  that  is  bound  to  come  with  a 


250  C&e    §>tage    in    tfie 

heterogeneous  population,  and  also  against  the  wiles 
of  the  ticket  speculator  and  scalper.  To  cover  this 
ground  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  New  York  bar  have 
brought  their  legal  acumen  and  knowledge  to  frame  a 
contract  that  would  make  it  possible  for  the  manage- 
ment to  exercise  the  privilege  of  protecting  his  inter- 
ests and  the  comfort  of  his  patrons.  The  up-to-date 
coupon  ticket  in  all  large  cities  and  nearly  everywhere 
in  the  South  contains  a  clause  to  accomplish  this  end, 
so  that  the  purchaser  now  buys  a  privilege  subject  to 
certain  contractual  limitations. 


In  a  previous  writing  I  ventured  to  prophesy  that 
the  day  was  not  far  off  when  the  incongruous  "expla- 
nations," as  amplified  in  the  transcription  on  the  screen 
of  letters  and  telegrams  for  the  purpose  of  clarifying 
in  the  spectator's  mind  the  plot  of  the  photo-play, 
would  be  rendered  unnecessary,  and  that  progress  and 
science  would  combine  to  offer  a  more  worthy  substi- 
tute, so  that  the  verity  of  the  portrayals  would  be 
emphasized. 

Of  course,  this  can  be  achieved  to  a  great  extent 
through  an  absolutely  clear  and  concrete  picture,  and 
whether  my  suggestion  had  aught  to  do  with  it  or  not, 
the  fact  remains  that  in  the  film  "Pygmalion  and  Gal- 
atea," the  producer,  Mr.  P.  A.  Powers,  exacted  from 
the  members  of  the  cast  a  complete  and  literal  utter- 
ance of  the  lines,  with  a  result  that  left  no  doubt  as 
to  the  success  of  the  effort  to  "put  over"  the  beautiful 
story  of  this  great  work.  It  is  true  that  plays  such  as 
this  one  are  tolerably  familiar  to  the  average  play- 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 251 

goer,  but  in  the  instance  of  which  I  write,  the  whole 
recital  came  to  the  audience  much  as  a  novelty,  and 
the  impression  created  was  decidedly  favorable. 

While  on  this  subject  of  clarity,  I  would  like  to  pay 
a  little  tribute  to  the  master  mind  whose  province  it 
is  to  stage  the  photoplays  for  the  Thanhouser  Com- 
pany, particularly  the  film,  "Not  Guilty,"  in  which  the 
attention  to  detail  raised  the  production  almost  to  a 
state  of  art.  Even  in  so  seemingly  insignificant  a  mat- 
ter as  the  photographing  of  a  newspaper  on  the  screen 
to  call  attention  to  the  confession  of  the  real  criminal, 
the  verity  of  the  whole  was  lifted  almost  to  an  actu- 
ality by  a  perfect  reproduction  of  the  New  York 
Tribune.  I  was  unable  to  discern  in  the  few  seconds 
the  effect  was  on  view,  what  means  were  taken  to 
create  the  illusion,  but  it  is  just  such  perfection  in 
detail  that  has  given  David  Belasco  his  great  fame, 
and  it  is  indeed  consoling  to  know  that  the  producers 
of  photoplays  are  aspiring  to  reach  great  heights  in 
such  matters. 

In  the  film  "The  Other  Man,"  the  effort  made  by 
the  Nestor  Company's  producer  to  achieve  the  effect 
of  an  actuality  met  with  a  result  so  convincing  that  the 
sacrificing  of  a  great  situation  in  the  finale  or  climax, 
when  the  burglar  is  permitted  to  escape,  surprised 
me;  perhaps  this  was  due  to  a  desire  not  to  give  too 
much  "meat"  in  one  film,  for  in  the  last  moment  of 
the  production,  and  in  a  single  picture,  four  distinct 
surprises  were  revealed. 

Some  of  the  larger  companies  seem  to  be  wholly 
lacking  in  prolific  material;  a  resort  to  plays  and 
operas  familiar  to  the  general  public  is  a  procedure,  in 
my  humble  opinion,  that  threatens  the  very  structure 


252 Cfte    g)tage   in    tfre 

on  which  the  art  of  cinematography  has  had  its  foun- 
dation, for  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  success  in  this 
field  has  been  due  to  the  almost  perfect  emulation  of 
actuality;  hence,  if  conditions  are  such  that  the  public 
is  invited  to  witness  plays  and  operas,  the  plots  of 
which  are  known  to  them,  it  is  evidence  in  plenty 
that  the  fictional  phase  of  the  latter  will  become  a 
menace  to  the  exhibitors  in  their  contest  with  the  the- 
atre managers  on  a  problem  wherein  they  have  here- 
tofore won,  and  are  still  winning,  by  evolving  produc- 
tions replete  with  realism  and  apparent  truth. 

If  one  may  not  find  material  that  is  new,  sufficient 
for  the  purposes,  then  why  not  resort  to  that  which 
is  "old  enough  to  be  new,"  plays  like  "Under  the  Gas- 
light," "Griffith  Gaunt,"  "No  Thoroughfare,"  "Led 
Astray,"  "Rose  Michel,"  "Daniel  Rochat,"  and  a  hun- 
dred others,  lend  themselves  readily  to  the  laws  of  cin- 
ematography. Moreover,  they  can  be  purchased  for 
fifteen  cents  at  Brentano's,  and  as  evidence  that  a 
public  is  responsive  to  such  works,  one  need  only 
recall  the  Lyric  Theatre  and  the  crowds  packing  that 
playhouse  night  after  night  to  see  "The  Lights  o'  Lon- 
don," just  as  they  did  a  year  previous  to  see  "Jim 
the  Penman"  at  the  same  house,  and  also  to  the  Em- 
pire Theatre  to  see  Robertson's  old  comedy,  "Caste." 

The  public  does  not  patronize  the  picture  theatre 
because  it  is  cheap — this  is  something  I  am  certain 
about;  the  majority  go  to  a  picture  theatre  for  the 
same  reasons  that  I  do,  because  the  eye  is  appealed 
to,  and  because  pantomime  is  the  most  potent  of  all 
the  arts  of  entertaining. 

Oh,  ye  producers!  It  is  not  for  me  to  offer  you 
advice,  but  if  there  be  amongst  you  any  that  hold  my 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  253 

views  in  respect,  I  have  just  one  suggestion  to  make 
at  this  time:  in  your  quest  for  stage  material  compel- 
ling enough  for  film  production,  do  not  overlook  the 
many  splendid  vehicles  available  to  you  in  the  fifteen- 
cent  books.  The  public  sidetracked  inferior  melo- 
drama, and  turned  to  the  picture  theatre  for  relief.  If 
it  is  necessary  to  draw  on  the  theatre  for  your  ammu- 
nition, you  can  do  so  and  still  preserve  the  laws  of 
realism  and  verity,  but  failure  awaits  him  who  en- 
deavors to  avail  himself  of  fiction  familiar  to  modern 
picture  theatregoers.  Nothing  is  surer  than  that  the 
day  a  resort  to  this  becomes  necessary,  that  day  will 
see  the  beginning  of  a  decline  in  the  vogue  of  the 
picture  theatre  itself. 


Miss  Felice  Lyne  (twenty-one  years  of  age),  was 
born  in  Missouri,  as  were  also  her  parents,  who  are  of 
English  and  French  extraction.  She  was  not  an  infant 
musical  prodigy.  She  had  a  thorough  course  in  in- 
strumental music  —  piano  —  from  the  age  of  ten  to  six- 
teen. At  about  the  age  of  fifteen  she  began  to  sing  a 
few  simple  ballads,  playing  her  own  accompaniments. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen,  after  graduation  from  high 
school,  she  began  voice  culture,  and  had  less  than  one 
year's  instruction  before  going  to  Paris. 

It  was  only  hoped  that  she  might  develop  into  a 
great  singer,  but  it  was  decided  to  send  her  to  Mme. 
Marchesi.  Her  voice  was  small,  but  sympathetic,  and 
she  seemed  to  have  an  excellent  conception  of  tones 
and  harmony. 

After  trying  her  voice  (in  September,  1907),  Mar- 


254 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfte 

chesi  told  her  that  she  had  every  essential  for  a  grand 
opera  star. 

During  her  second  year  in  Paris  she  was  offered 
several  engagements,  but  this  did  not  sway  her  in  her 
purpose.  She  knew  she  was  not  ready,  and  was  de- 
termined not  to  begin  her  career  until  she  was  fully 
prepared. 

The  third  year  in  Paris  she  studied  with  Mons.  L. 
d'Aubigne,  a  native  American,  and  by  the  end  of  that 
period  she  was  prepared  to  sing  ten  leading  grand 
opera  roles.  She  accepted  an  engagement  with  Mr. 
Hammerstein  and  returned  to  America  in  August, 
1910,  having  been  abroad  just  three  years. 

She  sang  last  year  as  "Lisbeth"  in  "Hans  the  Flute 
Player,"  one  month  in  the  Manhattan  Opera  House, 
New  York,  and  one  month  in  Philadelphia. 

She  returned  to  Paris  in  April,  1911,  to  further  pre- 
pare her  roles  for  Mr.  Hammerstein's  London  engage- 
ment. Her  repertoire  now  consists  of  fifteen  French 
and  Italian  grand  opera  roles.  Her  voice  is  coloratura 
and  her  small  stature — weighing  only  one  hundred 
pounds — especially  adapts  her  for  most  of  her  casts. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  of  her  success  is  the 
short  time  in  which  it  was  achieved.  Her  thorough 
knowledge  of  instrumental  music,  of  the  French  and 
Italian  languages,  obtained  before  going  abroad,  her 
high  order  of  intelligence,  her  great  determination  and 
stick-to-it-ativeness,  and  the  constant  care  and  counsel 
of  her  mother,  have  been  very  important  factors  in  her 
success.  Her  London  debut  was  the  more  sensational 
because  of  the  favorable  auspices  under  Mr.  Hammer- 
stein. 


FELICE    LYNE 
Regarded  as  the  Successor  of  Adelina  Patti 


Ctoentietj)    Centurp  255 

The  writer  has  always  contended  that  the  advent  of 
the  motion  picture  has  brought  into  the  amusement 
world  many  business  men  possessing  the  true  instinct 
of  the  showman,  and  their  operations  have  been 
worthy  of  observation.  I  do  not  know  the  ante- 
cedents of  P.  A.  Powers,  who  is  the  head  and  vital 
figure  of  the  film  manufacturing  company  bearing 
his  name,  but  the  few  years  that  he  has  been  con- 
spicuous in  picturedom,  have  been  characterized  by  a 
display  of  energy,  persistency  and  discernment,  such 
as  is  rarely  recorded  in  the  career  of  a  managerial 
figure  in  any  branch  of  the  field  of  public  entertaining. 

Here  we  have  a  man  who  has  reached  his  goal  in 
the  face  of  obstacles,  such  as  are  encountered  and 
survived  by  few  of  his  colleagues.  It  may  be  that  I 
am  wrong  in  the  impression  that  Mr.  Powers  is  the 
pioneer  to  whom  credit  belongs  for  the  evolution  of 
the  photo  play,  but  it  is  surely  true  that  "Powers'  Pic- 
ture Plays"  were  among  the  first  portrayals  on 
the  screen  for  which  players  from  the  speaking  stage 
were  utilized,  and  at  the  very  outset  the  productions 
were  notable  for  a  plethora  of  youthful  players,  gifted 
with  a  talent  for  pantomime,  in  itself  a  great  artistic 
achievement,  while  the  photography  was  distin- 
guished for  its  clarity  in  a  primitive  period  of  the  de- 
velopment of  this  important  phase  of  the  progress  in 
film  production.  The  "flicker"  was  wholly  absent 
from  Powers'  picture  plays  from  the  day  I  was  first 
enabled  to  observe  them. 

It  was  this  same  Mr.  Powers  who  inaugurated  the 
movement  in  this  country  wherein  the  stars  or  celebri- 
ties of  the  stage  were  induced  to  enter  the  film  world. 
The  first  player  of  this  class  secured  was  Nat  C.  Wills, 


256  _  Cfte    e>ta0e    in    tfte 

a  comedian  who  has  earned  as  high  as  one  thousand 
dollars  a  week  on  the  vaudeville  stage,  while  Fred 
Walton,  the  next  to  succumb  to  the  lure  of  the  camera 
man,  is  perhaps  the  best  exponent  of  pantomime  since 
the  days  of  George  L.  Fox.  By  inducing  Mildred 
Holland  to  pose  before  the  camera  in  a  condensation 
of  the  play  that  made  her  famous,  Mr.  Powers  again 
established  a  precedent  that  has  had  the  greatest  sig- 
nificance. The  next  year  will  witness  the  resultant 
effect  in  that  the  movement  will  be  similar  to  that 
which  took  place  in  vaudeville,  when  the  stars  of  the 
regular  stage  embraced  the  newer  calling. 


The  Rex  Film  Company  is  an  institution  by  itself  in 
that  it  stands  alone  in  its  unique  policy  of  presenting 
photo-plays  wholly  different  in  scope  and  character 
from  those  offered  by  its  competitors.  There  is  that 
"something"  about  a  Rex  offering  to  easily  distinguish 
it  from  all  others.  In  nearly  every  playlet  evolved 
by  Rex  a  strong  moral  lesson  is  taught,  while  the 
stories  are  always  gripping,  the  effort  to  emphasize 
the  verity  of  the  portrayals  serves  to  create  the  illusion 
of  an  actuality.  This  is  so  true  that  despite  the  many 
changes  recorded  in  the  producing  staffs  of  film  manu- 
facturers, Mr.  Edwin  S.  Porter,  the  producer  of  Rex 
film,  has  remained  immune  from  temptation  to  change 
his  environment  which  accounts  for  the  distinctly 
high-grade  quality  of  the  Rex  output,  a  quality,  too, 
that  is  no  way  suggestive  of  emulation,  nor  does  it 
lend  itself  to  it. 

To  this  day,  when  film  production  is  practically  at 


Ctoentietft    Centutg  _  257 

its  zenith,  the  writer  cannot  recall  any  photo-play,  pre- 
sented here  or  abroad,  that  possessed  the  merit  of  Mr. 
Porter's  "Called  Back."  The  recital  of  this  gripping 
rural  tale,  portrayed  by  only  three  of  Rex's  players, 
was  of  that  character  one  is  wont  to  look  to  a  Belasco 
for,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  that  wizard  of  stagecraft 
himself  could  have  added  to  the  verity  or  created  with 
better  effect  the  illusion  here  sought  and  achieved. 
"Called  Back"  was  one  of  Rex's  earliest  efforts,  but 
that  the  triumph  was  not  a  fleeting  one  is  evidenced 
in  the  sensation  the  film  created  in  London,  when  the 
Rex  Company  began  its  English  campaign  in  1911. 


The  Republic  Film  Company  entered  the  field  in 
November,  1911,  and  quickly  became  a  factor,  a  result 
to  be  expected,  when  one  considers  that  the  leading 
figure  of  this  modern  organization  is  Herbert  Miles, 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  film  industry.  The  Miles 
Brothers  in  the  East  and  on  the  Pacific  Coast  (where 
they  are  still  active  factors)  were  the  first  to  encour- 
age the  filming  of  great  events,  and  much  of  the  suc- 
cess that  has  characterized  the  early  career  of  the 
Motion  Picture  Sales  Company  is  generally  credited 
to  Herbert  Miles,  who  still  retains  his  interest  in  the 
latter.  But  Mr.  Miles'  ambition  to  create  a  vast  pro- 
ducing concern  as  an  outlet  for  his  own  energy  and 
experience  has  resulted  in  the  advent  of  the  Republic 
Company.  Already  the  phrase  "get  a  Rep."  stands 
for  something  out  of  the  ordinary.  Mr.  Miles  started 
a  movement  by  locating  the  offices  of  his  company 
in  the  heart  of  the  theatrical  zone  for  the  reason,  as 


258  _  Cfte    ^tagc    in    tfte 

he  expressed  it,  that  he  could  be  in  touch  with  every 
phase  of  amusement  activity,  and  thus  avail  himself 
of  the  opportunity  to  secure  players,  paraphernalia, 
etc.,  almost  at  his  very  door.  The  Republic  offices 
are  at  the  Exchange  Building,  145  West  Forty-fifth 
Street,  and  so  many  of  Mr.  Miles'  colleagues  have  fol- 
lowed him  to  this  locale,  that  this  particular  building 
is  now  referred  to  as  "the  lure  of  the  camera  man." 


Two  hundred  thousand  dollars  expended  for  one 
series  of  film  is  surely  "going  some,"  as  George  Cohan 
would  say,  and  yet  it  is  announced  without  any  pre- 
liminary puffery  that  the  Monopol  Company,  of  New 
York,  who  released  the  "Dante's  Inferno"  pictures, 
has  effected  another  epochal  feature  on  which  the 
Milano  Film  Company,  of  Italy,  has  labored  for  nearly 
two  years,  and  as  evidence  that  the  important  inter- 
ests in  the  film  world  are  not  without  artistic  taste, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  state  that  the  new  production 
is  Homer's  "Odyssey."  Two  thousand  persons  and 
two  score  of  scenic  artists  and  scientists  have  been  en- 
gaged in  the  preparation  of  this  prodigious  spectacle. 
After  all  it  may  be  that  the  prevention  of  obsoletion 
of  the  great  masterpieces  of  old  will  depend  on  the 
camera  man;  already  patomime,  an  almost  extinct 
art,  has  been  revived  all  over  the  world  as  a  result 
of  the  activity  and  enterprise  of  the  film  producers. 
It  is  even  recorded  that  Max  Reinhardt  received  his 
inspiration  for  the  production  of  "Sumurun"  from  his 
observations  abroad  in  the  film  world;  moreover,  this 
modern  producer  who  has  revolutionized  the  stage  is 


Ctoentietft    Centiitp  259 

likely  to  capitulate  to  the  offers  and  inducements  held 
out  to  him  to  assume  charge  of  one  of  the  larger 
moving  picture  studios.  Truly  there  is  everything  to 
indicate  that  with  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  be- 
ing spent  on  a  single  production,  the  theatrical  man- 
agers of  this  period  must  expect  that  the  public  pat- 
ronage will  be  difficult  to  maintain  in  the  regular 
theatres  without  an  effort  on  their  part  to  meet  this 
encroachment  on  their  realm. 

As  illustrating  the  importance  of  the  production  in 
films  of  Homer's  "Odyssey,"  the  Monopol  Company 
has  secured  the  services  of  William  J.  Burns,  the 
famous  detective  to  protect  them  from  "pirates  and 
dupers." 

A  newcomer  among  producers  of  photo-plays  in 
December,  1911,  was  the  Majestic  Film  Company,  but 
its  general  manager,  Thomas  D.  Cochrane,  has  had 
vast  experience  with  other  producing  firms.  In  fact, 
it  was  due  to  the  knowledge  and  observations  gained 
through  his  earlier  associations,  that  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  the  new  company  with  a  view  of  pre- 
senting photo-plays  with  every  department  in  the 
hands  of  a  master,  and  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining an  all-star  stock  company,  perhaps  the  first 
effort  of  the  kind  yet  recorded. 

One  of  the  earliest  offerings  of  this  company,  "The 
Actress,"  showed  a  consummate  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  producer  of  the  stage  and  its  technique, 
while  the  stagecraft,  so  necessary  in  portrayals  of 
this  character,  seemed  to  stand  out  in  every  picture. 
The  title  role  was  posed  for  by  Mabel  Trunnelle,  of 
whom  I  have  written  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  Here 
we  have  the  versatile  artiste,  whose  talents  are  such 


260 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

that  she  can  portray  a  wide  range  of  characters.  If 
there  be  such  a  thing  as  "the  stars  of  cinematog- 
raphy," this  young  lady  surely  will  rank  among  them. 


Ctoenttetft    Centutp  261 


CHAPTER  XIV 

In  all  of  the  writer's  volumes  a  plea  is  made  for 
the  revival  of  opera  comique.  Oscar  Hammerstein 
demonstrated  that  there  was  a  large  public  for  the 
lighter  works  of  the  operatic  repertoire  and  only  the 
forced  retirement  from  American  activity  interrupted 
his  plans  for  a  renaissance  in  this  very  field. 

Therefore  I  feel  prompted  to  present  before  the 
readers  of  the  present  volume  the  expressions  of  the 
distinguished  composer  and  conducter,  Ernest  Car- 
ter, which  follow. 

"In  discussing  'the  problems  confronting  the  New 
Theatre*  I  hope  you  will  give  strong  encouragement 
to  the  rumored  plan  of  giving  opera  comique  there, 
season  after  next,  with  the  lesser  stars  from  the  Met- 
ropolitan forces. 

"Such  a  plan  (especially  if  the  operas  with  a  com- 
edy element  are  given  in  English)  would,  I  am  sure, 
(1)  gratify  the  taste  of  an  already  large  class,  (2) 
would  teach  another  class  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
turn  to  trashy  musical  comedy  for  an  evening  of  musi- 
cal relaxation  and  refreshment,  and  (3)  would  (with 
the  same  liberal  policy  recently  inaugurated  by  the 
Metropolitan  toward  American  grand  operas)  train  up 
a  school  of  American  grand  opera  writers  by  relieving 
the  American  composer  and  librettist  from  their  pres- 
ent dilemma  of  being  compelled  either  to  approach 
grand  opera  without  previous  stage  experience  or  to 


262  _  Cfre   ^tage    in    toe 

acquire  stage  technique  by  writing  musical  comedy. 

"Another  suggestion  I  would  like  to  see  thrown  out 
for  the  consideration  of  opera  managers  is  that  popu- 
lar patronage  would  be  made  larger  and  more  steady 
by  an  earlier  hour  of  closing.  In  Germany  those  of 
us  who  have  to  get  up  early  and  work  hard  can  at- 
tend opera  two  or  three  times  a  week  without  a  sense 
of  dissipation,  and  people  would  go  oftener  here  if 
they  could  get  to  bed  earlier  after  the  opera.  It  is 
said  that  the  boxholders  prefer  the  late  hours,  but 
usually  the  boxes  at  the  Metropolitan  are  pretty  well 
emptied  before  the  last  act  is  over. 

"I  am  very  truly  yours, 

"ERNEST  CARTER." 

New  York,  March  15,  1911. 


That  the  illustrated  song  has  had  an  important 
share  in  the  vogue  of  the  photo-play  is  not  to  be 
questioned.  It  is  even  true  that  the  great  success  of 
the  former,  when  combined  with  good  singing  and 
expert  electrical  operation,  had  much  to  do  with  the 
research  that  finally  resulted  in  moving  pictures. 

The  animated  song  sheet  surely  did  suggest  the 
moving  picture  of  to-day.  Perhaps  the  most  worthy 
figure  associated  with  the  illustrated  song  field  is 
Alfred  L.  Simpson.  He  it  was  who  evolved  the  beau- 
tiful illustrations  that  made  the  name  of  Maxwell  and 
Simpson  famous.  Mr.  Simpson  retired  from  this  duo 
several  years  ago  and  has  since  devoted  himself  to 
preparing  the  illustrations,  or  "slides,"  as  they  are 
called,  and  he  has  become  potent  and  wealthy  as  a 


Ctoentietft    Centurg  _  263 

result.  Mr.  Simpson  is  not  only  an  able  electrician,  he 
is  also  a  well  known  conductor,  who  has  directed  the 
musical  side  of  many  important  operatic  productions; 
moreover,  he  has  achieved  some  fame  as  a  composer. 
Such  versatility  should  account  for  the  vast  strides  the 
illustrated  song  has  made. 

The  Excelsior  Slide  Company  represent  the  mod- 
ern and  evolutional  status  of  the  illustrated  song. 
This  company  has  come  forward  with  much  impetus 
during  the  past  year,  and  its  output  is  in  very  large 
request  because  of  its  superior  calibre  and  the  ex- 
cellence of  its  service. 

The  name  of  Dewitt  C.  Wheeler  is,  and  has  been 
for  a  generation,  something  to  conjure  with.  Mr. 
Wheeler  made  song  slides  long  before  the  advent  of 
cinematography,  and  he  has  maintained  his  position 
to  this  day  as  a  leader.  It  is  interesting  here  to  note 
that  through  Mr.  Wheeler  alone  hundreds  of  singers 
without  reputation  with  the  public,  have  found  a 
lucrative  field.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  three 
thousand  singers  of  illustrated  songs  in  this  country  — 
and  the  demand  is  increasing  every  day.  Mr.  Wheeler 
in  1912  entered  the  film  manufacturing  field  on  a 
large  scale,  but  this  has  not  affected  his  song  slide 
industry. 


A  remarkable  phase  of  the  development  of  the 
photo-play  is  the  changed  conditions  resulting  to  the 
players  themselves.  Time  was  when  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  posing  before  the  camera  were  not  ad- 
vertised, and  there  was  little  incentive  for  great  artistic 
effort,  but  this  is  all  changed  now. 


264 C&e    §)tage    in    tfie 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  certain  stars  of  the 
silent  drama  are  even  more  celebrated  than  their  con- 
freres of  the  speaking  stage.  G.  M.  Anderson,  of  the 
Essanay  Film  Company,  is  not  only  the  most  exten- 
sively photographed  actor  in  America,  but  he  is  also  as 
well  known  by  name  as  John  Drew  is.  Mr.  Anderson 
has  amassed  a  large  fortune  as  part  owner  of  the  Essa- 
nay Company.  The  industry  of  this  man  is  something 
extraordinary;  not  only  is  he  one  of  the  heads  of  this 
great  concern  but  he  writes  nearly  all  of  the  playlets 
produced  on  the  screen,  also  "staging"  them,  if  such  a 
term  can  be  used  for  the  photo-play.  Mr.  Anderson  is 
the  leading  figure  in  nearly  all  of  the  Essanay  por- 
trayals, and  he  was  the  first  to  evolve  Western  pic- 
tures. At  the  present  time  Mr.  Anderson  is  in  Cali- 
fornia with  one  of  his  stock  companies. 

King  Baggott,  of  the  "Imp"  Company,  is  almost  as 
well  known  as  Mr.  Anderson.  It  is  estimated  that 
Mr.  Baggott's  portrayals  are  witnessed  by  over  one 
million  persons  daily ;  and  as  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
gain  distinction  in  photo-plays,  it  is  not  strange  that  his 
appearance  on  the  screen  is  generally  the  signal  for 
great  applause. 

Frank  Crane,  long  with  the  Thanhouser  Company, 
is  another  popular  photo-player.  This  young  man  is  the 
"matinee  idol"  of  picturedom,  being  strikingly  hand- 
some and  possessing  other  physical  qualifications  that 
carry  an  appeal  with  audiences. 

Of  the  opposite  sex,  Miss  Florence  Turner,  known  as 
"The  Vitagraph  Girl,"  is  the  best  known.  Miss  Turner 
had  an  interesting  career  on  the  speaking  stage  before 
she  became  a  photo-player,  but  this  handsome  actress 
is  one  of  the  few  who  have  grasped  the  subtlety  and 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 265 

technique  of  the  silent  drama.  Being  efficient  in  the 
art  of  pantomime  is  a  real  gift. 

Mary  Pickford,  known  as  "Our  Mary,"  is,  perhaps, 
better  known  to  the  American  public  as  a  whole  than 
any  of  her  colleagues  for  the  reason  that  she  has 
changed  her  environment  so  often,  but  always  main- 
taining a  position  of  importance.  Miss  Pickford  was  a 
long  time  with  the  "Imp"  Company,  and  at  various 
periods  was  the  "stock  star"  of  the  Vitagraph  and  Ma- 
jestic companies.  At  this  time  the  young  lady  is  with 
the  Biograph  Company,  the  only  film  producers  who  do 
not  advertise  their  players. 

The  list  of  potent  actresses  in  the  moving  picture 
field  is  a  large  one,  including,  as  it  does,  such  well 
known  names  as  Mary  Fuller,  May  Buckley,  Alice 
Joyce,  Miriam  Nesbitt  and  Pilar  Morin. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  foreign  virtuoso  conies  to 
America  for  the  inauguration  of  her  artistic  career. 
It  has  always  been  regarded  as  necessary,  even  for  our 
own  musical  talent,  to  achieve  fame  abroad  before 
American  impresarios  would  be  induced  to  extend 
their  interest,  but  in  the  case  of  the  young  English 
violinist,  Beatrice  Eleanor  Horsbrugh,  who  is  to  be 
heard  in  this  country  during  the  season  of  1912-13,  so 
much  has  been  written  and  said  of  her  remarkable 
gifts  that  American  engagements  have  been  offered 
her  from  various  sources. 

Miss  Horsbrugh  is  a  favorite  pupil  of  the  great  Bel- 
gian violinist,  Caesre  Thomson,  and,  while  she  has 
not  had  an  important  career  abroad,  the  young  lady's 
appearances  in  concerts  and  recitals  in  England, 
France  and  Belgium  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
several  distinguished  American  artists,  and  it  was 


266 Cfte    g)tagg    in    tfte 

due  to  this  fact  that  a  well  known  impresario  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  hear  her  play  both  in  private  and  in 
public.  The  American  tour  is  the  result,  and  this  is 
indeed  interesting. 

In  order  that  Miss  Horsbrugh  may  possess  the 
broadest  conception  of  the  technique  of  the  violin  she 
has  decided  to  spend  a  few  months  studying  under 
the  great  Ysaye  in  Brussels  before  sailing  for  this 
country. 


J.  J.  Murdock  is  justly  nicknamed  "The  Little  Na- 
poleon of  Vaudeville,"  because  he  did  things. 

It  is  impossible  to  write  a  history  of  vaudeville 
without  referring  to  the  name  of  B.  F.  Keith,  the 
founder  of  this  style  of  popular  entertainment.  He 
is  justly  named  "The  Dean  of  Vaudeville." 

It  is  also  impossible  to  write  a  true  history  without 
bringing  in  the  names  of  E.  F.  Albee  and  J.  J.  Mur- 
dock. 

J.  J.  Murdock  was  the  head  in  the  Western  field  as 
Mr.  Albee  is  in  the  United  Booking  Offices.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  active  members  in  forming  the  first 
Vaudeville  Managers*  Association,  and  one  of  its  orig- 
inal directors.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  con- 
fidence which  the  Eastern  managers  had  in  Murdock 
that  allied  the  Eastern  and  Western  offices  so  closely 
together,  for  certainly  since  he  sold  his  Western  inter- 
ests and  retired  about  three  years  ago  from  all  active 
duties  on  account  of  ill  health,  affairs  have  not  been 
the  same;  each  side  looking  at  the  other  at  all  times 
with  suspicion. 


Ctoentietfc    Centtttg 267 

His  main  policy  was  to  keep  out  of  print,  to  go 
quietly  along  and  do  things,  attracting  as  little  atten- 
tion as  possible.  There  is  no  question  but  that  he  was 
a  power  and  influence  among  vaudeville  men.  He 
was  never  known  to  break  his  word,  always  fought 
for  the  right,  and  was  loyal  to  his  friends.  He  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  friends  the  actors  ever 
had,  and  any  one  of  them  will  take  his  word.  He  had 
but  to  say  "You  are  booked  here  or  there  for  so  many 
weeks  at  so  much  salary,"  and  they  considered  that  as 
good  as  a  contract. 

Many  a  performer  owes  his  success  to  Mr.  Mur- 
dock's  interest  in  his  behalf.  When  he  operated  the 
Masonic  Temple  Theatre  in  Chicago  he  produced 
more  big  acts,  and  gave  more  of  the  stars  their  first 
opportunity  to  appear  in  vaudeville  than  all  of  the 
other  managers  combined  in  those  days. 

He  was  the  first  to  advocate  the  high  salary.  And 
in  those  days  when  four  and  five-hundred-dollar  sal- 
aries were  considered  prohibitive  Murdock  advertised 
for  acts  and  paid  them  salaries  from  fifteen  hundred 
to  three  thousand  dollars  per  week.  He  gave  the 
Cohan  Family  three  thousand  dollars  to  reappear  in 
vaudeville  for  one  week. 

Many  performers  who  had  trouble  with  managers 
appealed  to  Murdock,  not  in  vain,  to  patch  up  their 
difficulties,  and  he  placed  them  in  a  position  to  again 
receive  booking.  The  writer  could  relate  many  a 
story  that  would  show  the  character  of  the  man,  where 
he  has  spent  hours  and  valuable  time  trying  to  secure 
bookings  for  artists  that  were  unfortunate  in  getting 
engagements.  He  was  never  known  in  all  his  career 
to  take  a  dollar  commission  or  receive  presents  in  any 


268 Cfre    %tage    in    tfte 

shape  or  manner.  Every  year  at  Christmas  time  Mr. 
Murdock  returned  valuable  gifts  to  senders  with  a 
letter  stating  that  he  would  always  be  pleased  to  re- 
ceive a  card  of  good  wishes  from  them,  but  any  benefit 
they  might  have  received  from  his  securing  bookings 
for  them  was  merely  a  business  matter,  and  if  they 
had  not  been  able  to  hold  up  their  end  of  it,  he  would 
not  have  endeavored  to  secure  bookings,  so  that  they 
owed  him  nothing  but  good  wishes  at  Yuletide. 

After  he  regained  his  health  he  again  entered  the 
vaudeville  field  in  1910,  but  instead  of  associating 
himself  with  the  Western  interests  he  joined  hands 
with  the  Eastern  managers,  known  as  the  United 
Booking  Offices  of  America,  and  became  executive 
manager. 

The  agents  also  have  much  to  thank  him  for.  The 
writer  remembers  that  during  his  time  in  the  booking 
field,  when  managers  were  about  to  eliminate  the 
services  of  booking  agents  and  do  booking  direct,  he 
called  on  Murdock  at  his  hotel  and  put  the  agents' 
side  before  him.  It  was  through  his  efforts  at  that 
time  that  the  agents  remained  a  factor  in  vaudeville, 
although  since  then  some  of  them  were  eliminated 
for  causes  entirely  personal,  while  others  have  become 
wealthy  and  potent. 

In  days  to  come  Keith,  Albee  and  Murdock  will  be 
looked  upon  as  the  triumvirate  of  vaudeville;  Keith, 
the  founder  of  that  branch  of  entertainment,  and  Albee 
and  Murdock  the  real  active  members  and  founders 
of  the  associations,  for,  without  their  individual  efforts, 
it  is  a  question  in  the  writer's  opinion  if  such  a  thing 
as  a  booking  office  would  be  in  existence  to-day.  The 
performers  now  would  be  booking  as  they  did  a  gen- 


Ctoentietfr    Centurg 269 

eration  ago,  writing  to  each  individual  manager,  play- 
ing probably  in  Chicago  one  week;  the  next  jump 
being  Boston,  after  losing  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  then, 
if  fortunate,  might  jump  to  St.  Louis  again  to  lay 
off,  and  then  get  a  date  in  Baltimore.  Such  was  the 
booking  arrangements  in  the  days  before  the  Asso- 
ciation. It  was  the  same  system  which  had  been  in 
vogue  in  the  days  of  "Variety,"  and  the  managers 
were  controlled  a  great  deal  as  to  the  value  of  an  act 
according  to  its  position  on  the  programmes  they  re- 
ceived from  other  cities.  This  has  been  done  away 
with  through  the  Association  bookings,  and  now  the 
manager  places  an  act  on  the  bill  where  he  thinks  he 
can  get  the  best  results,  irrespective  of  what  position 
other  managers  accorded  the  same  act. 

If  the  artists  would  compare  the  salaries  in  the  days 
before  the  Association  was  formed  with  those  of  to- 
day they  can  realize  the  benefits  they  have  received, 
although  I  well  remember  it  was  common  talk  and 
fear  among  these  same  artists  that  the  managers  form- 
ing an  association  would  mean  the  cutting  of  salaries. 
I  thought  so  myself,  until  one  day  in  conversation 
with  Murdock  he  informed  me  that  the  greatest  insur- 
ance a  manager  could  have  to  keep  out  opposition  was 
high  salaries,  and  that  was  the  reason  he  had  always 
encouraged  other  managers  to  be  high  salary  advocates 
instead  of  cutting  salaries.  It  was  not  for  the  love  of 
the  artist  but  as  a  protection  to  business.  If  a  mana- 
ger could  put  a  programme  on  for  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars a  week,  an  opposition  could  start  in  the  same  town 
and  put  one  on  for  the  same,  or  very  little  more,  and 
while  they  might  not  make  money  at  the  start,  their 
losses  could  not  be  great,  and  they  would  probably  be 


270  C6e   g)tage   in 


able  to  stand  the  losses  until  they  had  built  up  a  satis- 
factory patronage.  On  the  other  hand,  the  local 
manager  was  an  advocate  of  high  salaries,  thereby 
making  it  impossible  to  put  on  a  good  bill  in  the  town 
for  less  than  twenty-five  hundred  to  four  thousand 
dollars  per  week,  according  to  the  size  of  the  town 
and  average  business.  Then  if  an  opposition  started, 
their  losses  would  probably  be  from  two  thousand  to 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  week,  and  before  they 
could  succeed  in  shaping  business  on  a  paying  basis, 
they  would  collapse  against  the  local  manager  who  had 
his  regular  patronage. 

High  salaries  also  encouraged  actors  and  actresses 
from  the  legitimate  field  to  enter  vaudeville,  and  the 
managers  could  get  a  better  class  of  talent.  It  also 
enabled  the  artists  to  dress  their  acts  better,  and  en- 
couraged them  to  spend  money  for  scenery,  costumes, 
etc.  One  can  readily  see  that  the  artists  need  have 
no  fear  of  the  Managers'  Association  cutting  salaries 
as  long  as  there  is  no  successful  opposition.  The  day 
that  a  successful  opposition  becomes  a  factor,  both  the 
opposition  and  the  local  managers  will  have  to  come 
to  a  satisfactory  arrangement  and  cut  salaries,  for  the 
high  salary  insurance  will  no  longer  be  of  any  benefit 
to  the  manager. 

It  is  such  an  intricate  state  of  affairs  that  has  created 
an  outlet  for  the  brains  and  energy  of  the  gentleman 
to  whom  I  previously  accorded  the  title  of  "Prince  of 
Peacemakers." 

*  *  * 

A  crying  need  for  years  was  a  bureau  and  tribunal 
through  which  theatrical  managers  could  seek  and 


Ctoentieti)    Centutg 271 

obtain  relief  from  the  many  sources  of  piracy,  graft, 
imposition  and  injustice  which  they  had  to  contend 
with  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  For  several  years 
attempts  have  been  made  to  form  an  organization  to 
advance  the  interests  of  theatrical  producing  managers, 
and  to  rectify  and  reform  the  many  and  growing  abuses 
that  were  so  prevalent,  but  all  efforts  had  failed  until 
the  National  Association  of  Theatrical  Producing 
Managers  came  into  existence,  when  relief  quickly 
followed. 

On  December  28,  1907,  the  first  meeting  was  called 
at  the  Hotel  Astor  for  the  purpose  of  learning  what 
could  be  done  toward  organizing,  with  the  following 
present : 

William  A.  Brady,  Henry  B.  Harris,  Hollis  E. 
Cooley,  representative  of  Henry  W.  Savage;  Jules 
Murry,  James  E.  Buford,  representing  Wagenhals  St 
Kemper;  J.  W.  Jacobs,  representing  Benjamin 
Stern;  Frederick  McClellan,  Gus  Hill,  Samuel  A. 
Scribner,  E.  D.  Price,  A.  M.  Miller,  representing 
Liebler  &  Co.,  and  Ligon  Johnson,  an  attorney. 

Hollis  E.  Cooley  was  chosen  chairman  pro  tern, 
and,  taking  the  chair,  he  outlined  the  object  of  the 
meeting  and  the  purpose  to  remedy  the  evils  long 
complained  of  and  those  menacing  the  future  of  all 
amusement  interests,  and  appealed  to  those  before  him 
to  combine  and  act.  Other  meetings  followed,  and 
resulted  in  perfecting  the  organization,  naming  and 
incorporating  it.  The  constitution  and  by-laws  were 
drawn  up  by  Ligon  Johnson,  Esq.,  an  able  attorney, 
who  was  engaged  by  the  year  as  general  counsel,  a 
position  which  he  has  held  with  credit  ever  since. 

During  the  first  several  months  of  the  organization 


272 C6e   S>tage   in    tfte 

all  of  the  principal  producing  managers  of  America 
became  members,  and  the  National  Association  of 
Theatrical  Producing  Managers  became  one  of  the 
great  aggressive  epoch  reforming  factors  of  the  times. 

Duly  incorporated,  it  began  its  work  by  securing 
a  uniform  theatrical  rate  of  two  cents  a  mile  on  all 
Southern  railroads,  and  from  thence  to  the  present 
almost  every  reasonable  substantiated  claim  has  been 
satisfactorily  adjusted. 

The  matters  so  often  complained  of,  such  as  inade- 
quate service  by  the  railroads,  switching  charges  and 
baggage  and  private  car  regulations,  were  invariably 
adjusted,  and  for  scenery  ruined  or  destroyed,  and 
mis-connection  of  scenery  cars,  etc.,  damages  were 
collected  to  the  amount  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

The  present  new  copyright  law,  which,  for  the  first 
time,  gives  dramatic  protection  in  the  United  States 
was  secured,  and  special  dramatic  copyright  protection 
in  all  English  speaking  countries  has  now  become 
assured. 

The  threatened  strike  last  year  of  theatrical  em- 
ployees, which  promised  to  be  general  throughout  the 
country,  was  amicably  settled  by  the  officers  of  the 
Association. 

Complaints  of  employees,  including  performers,  mu- 
sicians and  stage  help,  jumping  their  contracts  and 
leaving  companies  owing  money  advanced  them  by 
managers,  and  the  failure  of  theatre  managers  to  fulfill 
guarantees,  contracts,  etc.,  were  arranged  satisfac- 
torily. 

Very  many  misunderstandings  and  disputes,  and 
hundreds  of  complaints  of  various  kinds  were  settled 


c  c  ft 

*•• 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 273 

in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  all  concerned  without  re- 
course to  law. 

Many  cases  of  overcharge  on  newspaper  advertising 
by  local  managers  and  overcharges  by  transfer  com- 
panies have  been  rectified  by  refund  or  otherwise  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  other  kinds  of  graft  that 
were  so  long  practiced  upon  the  producing  managers 
have  been  nearly  or  wholly  suppressed. 

The  scheme  of  arbitration  adopted  by  the  Associa- 
tion has  acted  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  participants, 
and  they  have  admitted  the  great  advantages  derived. 

Piracies  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  aggregating 
hundreds  of  cases,  have  been  suppressed,  and  but  re- 
cently the  notorious  Alexander  Byers,  of  the  Chicago 
Manuscript  Company,  was  indicted  on  twenty  counts 
through  the  persistent  efforts  of  Mr.  Ligon  Johnson, 
general  counsel.  The  bringing  to  justice  of  this  dealer 
in  pirated  plays  should  be  sufficient  to  establish  the 
far-reaching  effect  of  the  Association. 

Recently  some  of  the  unprincipled  moving  picture 
producers  have  been  pirating  copyrighted  dramatic 
compositions,  and  resorting  to  changing  the  titles  and 
scenes  to  escape  detection  and  the  penalties  of  the  law, 
but  the  Association  has  brought  several  of  them  to  a 
realizing  sense  of  its  power  and  the  efficacy  of  the 
present  copyright  law,  and  compelled  them  to  deliver 
up  their  reels. 

Some  of  the  most  effective  work  of  the  Association 
was  its  securing,  against  the  strongest  possible  oppo- 
sition, favorable  legislation  for  the  stage  child  in  most 
of  the  States,  thus  demonstrating  its  resources  and 
merit.  While  having  further  legislation  against  the 
stage  child  to  contend  with,  in  some  few  States,  its 


274 Cfte   g>tage   in   tfte 

chief  legislative  work  another  year  promises  to  be 
against  censorship  bills  in  most  of  the  State  legisla- 
tures, which,  from  all  reports,  seems  a  coming  issue. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  general  sum- 
mary that  the  National  Association  of  Theatrical  Pro- 
ducing Managers  has  a  remarkable  record  of  achieve- 
ment at  its  back.  It  has  accomplished  more  than  any 
organization  of  a  similar  kind  ever  did,  and  is  to-day 
occupying  Suite  1410-11,  Times  Building,  where  it  has 
been  established  since  its  incorporation.  And  its  efforts 
in  behalf  of  those  it  represents  are  kept  active  in  right- 
ing wrongs  and  forestalling  measures  against  the  good 
of  those  who  provide  our  best  class  of  amusements— 
the  theatrical  producing  managers. 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  275 


CHAPTER  XV 

William  C.  Carl,  organist  and  director  of  the  music 
in  the  old  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  director  of 
the  Guilmant  Organ  School,  had  the  honorary  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Music  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York,  Wednesday,  June  7,  1911, 
at  their  Seventy-ninth  Annual  Commencement. 

This  is  the  seventh  time  in  the  history  of  the  uni- 
versity that  the  degree  has  been  given.  First,  in  1865, 
to  Dr.  Lowell  Mason,  and  the  last  time  in  1883. 

Two  years  ago  the  French  Government  honored 
Dr.  Carl  with  the  decoration  of  Officier  de  1'Instruc- 
tion  Publique,  and  made  him  a  member  of  the  Acad- 
emic Francaise. 

William  Crane  Carl  is  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and 
began  the  study  of  music  at  the  age  of  seven.  The 
first  five  years  was  directed  by  his  sister,  Fannie  C. 
Carl,  who  was  followed  in  turn  by  Lydia  B.  Crane, 
Frank  L.  Sealy,  Madeleine  Schiller  (piano)  and  Sam- 
uel P.  Warren  at  Grace  Church,  New  York.  His 
first  position  as  organist  was  held  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen and  three  years  later,  he  went  to  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Newark,  N.  J.,  where  he  remained 
nearly  eight  years.  While  there  he  gave  several  series 
of  organ  recitals  and  began  his  work  as  a  concert 
organist.  In  1890  he  resigned  and  left  for  Paris  to 
study  with  Felix  Alexandre  Guilmant.  M.  Guilmant 
took  an  interest  inihis  American  pupil  from  the  start, 


276 Cfte    g)tagc    in    tfte 

and  this  ripened  into  a  friendship  which  has  existed 
for  the  past  twenty-one  years.  M.  Guilmant  accepted 
the  presidency  of  the  Guilmant  Organ  School 
founded  by  Dr.  Carl  in  1899,  which  he  held  until  his 
death  in  March,  1911,  and  gave  in  writing  to  Dr.  Carl, 
his  famous  method  of  organ  playing  and  teaching — a 
legacy  which  he  is  the  only  one  to  possess.  He  was 
largely  instrumental  in  the  tours  made  by  M.  Guil- 
mant, in  America,  and  is  now  writing  the  life  of  tho 
great  French  organist. 

Dr.  Carl  has  entered  upon  his  twentieth  year  as 
organist  and  director  of  the  music  in  the  old  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twelfth  Street, 
New  York  (Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Duffield,  Pastor).  Over 
145  free  organ  recitals  have  been  given,  including 
those  devoted  to  French,  English,  Italian,  German 
and  American  composers — Bach,  Handel,  Guilmant, 
Berlioz  and  several  Parsifal  programmes. 

He  conducted  the  music  at  the  Memorial  Service  to 
Queen  Victoria  in  the  old  First  Church;  President 
McKinley;  Hudson- Fulton  Service;  and  the  250th 
Anniversary  of  the  Adoption  of  the  Westminster 
Standards. 

Dr.  Carl  is  author  of  The  Decennial  Te  Deum, 
numerous  organ  pieces,  songs,  Thirty  Postludes  for 
the  Organ,  Masterpieces  for  the  Organ,  Master- 
studies  for  the  Organ  and  Novelties  for  the  Organ 
(two  books). 

Dr.  Carl  is  organist  and  choir-master  of  the  old 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York,  director  of 
the  Guilmant  Organ  School,  Officier  de  1'Instruction 
Publique  (France),  member  of  the  Academic  Fran- 
caise,  member  of  the  Alliance  Francaise,  a  founder  and 


WILLIAM    C.    CARL  CLARENCE   EDDY 

America's   Greatest  Organists 


OSCAR  SAENGER'S  OPERA  CLASS  REHEARSING  THIRD 
ACT  OF  "LA  BOHEME" 


Ctoentietj)    Centutg  _  277 

sub-warden  of  the  American  Guild  of  Organists,  presi- 
dent of  the  Guilmant  Club,  and  member  of  St.  Wilfred 
Club,  International  Society  of  Musicians,  Fraternal 
Society  of  Musicians  and  National  Association  of 
Organists  and  Musicians'  Club. 


The  Wisconsin  Dramatic  Society  was  organized 
in  1910,  in  Madison,  Wisconsin,  by  Professor  Thomas 
H.  Dickinson,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  with 
the  following  purposes:  To  raise  the  standard  of 
dramatic  appreciation  in  the  community;  to  encourage 
the  support  of  the  best  professional  plays;  to  en- 
courage the  reading  of  good  plays  in  English  and 
translation  from  other  languages;  to  encourage  the 
translation,  composition  and  publication  of  good  plays  ; 
to  incorporate  a  semi-professional  playing  group 
which  should  present  high-class  plays  at  cost  price. 

The  first  year  was  given  up  to  this  work.  The  mem- 
bership grew  into  hundreds,  the  membership  fee  being 
set  at  fifty  cents.  A  large  library  of  plays  was  gath- 
ered together  for  the  free  use  of  members,  and  an  ag- 
gregate of  five  thousand  plays  was  read,  distributed 
over  the  membership,  during  the  year,  many  of  them 
being  read  aloud  in  groups,  parts  being  assigned. 
Twenty  foreign  plays  were  translated  and  the  best  of 
these  are  now  being  published  by  the  society.  Three 
plays  were  presented,  Maeterlinck's  "The  Intruder;" 
Ibsen's  "The  Master  Builder;"  and  Yeats'  "The  Hour 
Glass."  In  accordance  with  the  principles  of  the  so- 
ciety these  were  presented  at  the  local  theatre,  the  Ful- 
ler, at  the  cost  price  of  fifteen  cents.  The  houses  were 


278  _  Cfre    ^tage    in    tfre 

crowded.  Each  performance  was  preceded  by  a  lec- 
ture delivered  by  a  specialist  on  the  literature  con- 
cerned from  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  second  year  preparations  are 
going  forward  to  extend  the  work.  No  side  will  be 
neglected  but  the  producing  side  will  be  developed. 
Producing  groups  have  been  organized  in  Milwaukee 
under  local  management  of  Mrs.  E.  P.  Sherry,  partly 
composed  of  professionals  and  partly  of  amateurs,  for 
the  production  of  eight  plays  during  the  year.  The 
plays  will  be  staged  as  well  as  possible  at  commercial 
theatres,  but  at  the  lowest  scale  of  prices  possible. 


The  writer  has  dwelt  on  the  meteoric  careers  of 
Marcus  Loew  and  William  Fox  in  the  previous  vol- 
umes, but  the  remarkable  rise  of  Gus  Sun  still  remains 
to  be  recorded  for  here  we  have  one  of  the  real  pioneers 
in  that  propitious  line  of  endeavor  known  as  "Pop" 
Vaudeville.  Mr.  Sun,  however,  unlike  the  other  gen- 
tlemen who  have  amassed  fortunes  in  this  field,  is 
an  old-time  showman  and  his  minstrel  organizations 
are  yet  potent. 

Gus  Sun  operated  on  a  large  scale  in  the  middle 
West  with  vaudeville  entertainments  long  before  the 
motion  picture  craze  had  reached  its  zenith,  in  fact,  the 
silent  drama  has  always  been  a  secondary  feature  in 
his  vast  chain  of  theatres.  Moreover,  Mr.  Sun  was  the 
first  manager  to  present  stars  of  reputation  in  his  pro- 
grammes in  cities  of  the  one-night  stand  class  and  he 
assumed  large  risks  in  doing  so  —  but  how  great  his  re- 
ward has  been  is  best  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  his 


Ctoentiett)    Centtitp  _  279 

circuit.  Besides  the  six  theatres  owned  and  managed 
by  himself,  he  is  affiliated  with  O.  G.  Murray  in  a 
group  of  theatres  of  equal  numbers,  while  he  is 
interested  in  over  one  hundred  houses  in  Ohio,  Indi- 
ana, Illinois,  Michigan,  Pennsylvania  and  West  Vir- 
ginia. Success  has  not  affected  Mr.  Sun  in  the  least.  He 
is  still  the  one  active  figure  in  his  affairs,  and  is  always 
to  be  found  in  his  main  offices  at  Springfield,  Ohio, 
when  not  on  a  periodical  visit  to  the  cities  where  his 
interests  are  centred. 


Philip  F.  Nash  is  the  gentleman  who  conducts  the 
office  procedure  of  the  largest  vaudeville  concern  in 
this  country.  To  him  must  go  the  vast  horde  of  talent 
seeking  engagements  in  the  more  than  one  hundred 
vaudeville  theatres  which  secure  their  attractions 
through  the  United  Booking  Offices.  Mr.  Nash  be- 
gan as  a  journalist,  and  at  the  very  outset  of  Mr. 
Keith's  career  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Bijou  Theatre  in  Philadelphia. 

While  in  charge  of  the  Leland  Opera  House  in 
Albany,  New  York,  then,  as  now,  one  of  the  Proctor 
chain  of  theatres,  Mr.  Nash  met,  wooed  and  wedded 
a  sister  of  John  Mack,  a  famous  politician  of  the  capi- 
tal city.  Two  daughters  of  Mr.  Nash  have  distin- 
guished themselves  by  achieving  nation-wide  fame 
on  the  stage  though  neither  has  passed  the  extremely 
youthful  age.  Mary  Nash  is  the  eldest  and  she  scored 
a  sensational  success  as  the  telephone  girl,  Wanda 
Kelly  in  "The  Woman"  at  the  Republic  Theatre.  This 
play  is  running  the  season  of  1911-12  out  and  it  is  gen- 


280 Cfte    g)tage    in    tfte 

erally  conceded  that  Miss  Nash's  portrayal  has  been 
the  sustaining  feature  of  the  production  as  a  whole. 

Florence  Nash,  the  youngest  of  Mr.  Nash's 
daughters,  has  had  an  interesting  career  which  has 
given  her  prominence  in  some  of  the  leading  com- 
panies sent  out  by  Charles  Frohman,  H.  B.  Harris  and 
David  Belasco,  but  like  her  sister,  Miss  Florence  has 
scored  her  greatest  triumph  during  the  present  theatri- 
cal season.  When  on  February  5,  1912,  she  elected  to 
make  her  debut  in  vaudeville  under  the  auspices  of  her 
father  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  where,  owing  to 
the  great  success  of  the  star  and  the  playlet,  "In  1999," 
Miss  Nash  was  retained  for  a  second  week — an  unusual 
proceeding  in  vaudeville.  Altogether  Mr.  Nash  has 
good  reason  to  feel  very  proud  these  days. 

<§»«§••§• 

In  Chicago,  Walter  F.  Keefe  has  become  a  conspicu- 
ous figure  in  connection  with  the  tremendous  develop- 
ment of  popular  priced  vaudeville,  and  he  has  built 
up  a  vast  booking  system,  which  he  conducts  along 
lines  wholly  modern.  Mr.  Keefe  was  one  of  the  first 
to  foresee  the  vogue  of  the  theatre  of  large  seating 
capacity  presenting  a  huge  entertainment  at  extremely 
low  admission  prices.  Chicago  has  to-day  no  less 
than  forty  theatres  seating  from  1,200  to  3,000,  that 
were  erected  in  the  last  five  years,  and  half  as  many 
more  are  planned.  These  are  what  are  called  "neigh- 
borhood" theatres,  and  the  movement  in  proportion 
has  spread  all  over  the  country,  with  Mr.  Keefe  an. 
active  factor  as  far  as  the  West  is  concerned. 

In  one  of  these  theatres,  where  the  price  of  admis- 
sion is  ten  cents,  McKee  Rankin  presented  "Oliver 


Ctoentietfr    Centurg 281 

Twist"  as  one  of  the  features,  illustrating  the  ambi- 
tious efforts  in  such  playhouses. 

In  St.  Louis  recently  a  man  named  Talbot  started 
a  Hippodrome  enterprise,  presenting  twelve  vaudeville 
acts  at  a  top  admission  price  of  ten  cents.  This  place 
has  never  played  to  less  than  seven  thousand  dollars 
weekly  gross  receipts.  Of  course,  all  this  procedure  is 
a  direct  result  of  the  moving  picture  craze — and  few 
of  the  experienced  in  this  line  believe  that  the  next 
ten  years  will  show  any  decline  in  these  popular  priced 
entertainments;  on  the  contrary,  everything  indicates 
expansion.  In  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  there  is  a  beautiful 
new  theatre  called  "The  Miles."  The  prices  are  from 
ten  to  thirty  cents,  while  the  average  weekly  box  office 
results  is  $6,500.00  Truly  it  is  the  masses  who  sup- 
port the  amusement  caterer. 

Unquestionably  the  signal  triumph  of  Orville  Har- 
rold,  the  American  tenor  in  the  new  London  opera 
house  that  was  erected  and  is  directed  by  an  American 
impresario,  will  establish  a  precedent  for  the  native 
singer  as  regards  his  tuition,  for  all  time. 

Orville  Harrold  is  now  twenty-seven  years  of  age 
— much  younger  than  Caruso  when  he  was  discovered 
in  Milan — and  with  a  voice  quite  as  melodious  as  that 
which  to-day  enthralls  the  audiences  that  pay  homage 
to  the  Italian.  But  the  evolution  of  young  Harrold  is 
far  more  extraordinary  in  that  seven  years  ago  he  was 
driving  a  delivery  wagon  in  his  native  town  of  Muncie, 
Indiana.  It  happened  that  one  day  while  waiting  in 
her  dressing  room  in  the  local  opera  house  Mme. 
Schumann-Heink  heard  young  Harrold  singing. 

"Bring  to  me  the  man  who  possesses  that  pure  and 
voluminous  voice,"  demanded  the  great  contralto. 


282 Cfte    g)tage    In    t6e 

This  was  the  first  information  that  Harrold  had  that 
he  possessed  the  requisites  for  an  artistic  career.  He 
at  once  placed  himself  in  charge  of  an  Indianapolis 
vocal  instructor,  who  advised  the  lad  to  gain  his  ex- 
perience by  singing  anywhere  he  could,  so  long  as  he 
could  face  the  public.  This  resulted  in  Harrold's  ap- 
pearance in  vaudeville.  In  a  few  weeks  the  sketch  in 
which  he  was  prominent  was  booked  at  the  Victoria 
Theatre  in  New  York,  which  is  conducted  by  the 
Hammerstein  family,  and  it  was  here  that  Oscar  Ham- 
merstein  first  heard  him. 

Oscar  decided  to  send  the  youth  to  Paris  to  study 
under  Jean  de  Reszke,  but  circumstances  caused  him 
to  alter  this  plan.  With  that  daring  that  has  char- 
acterized his  unexampled  career,  Oscar  presented  the 
young  singer  at  his  opera  house  in  New  York,  at  a 
Sunday  concert.  He  triumphed  instantly.  Then  the 
impresario  sought  out  Oscar  Saenger,  an  American 
maestro. 

"What  do  you  think  of  him?"  asked  one  Oscar  of 
the  other. 

"Give  him  to  me  for  a  year,  and  I'll  hand  you  back 
one  of  the  world's  greatest  singers,"  was  Saenger's 
response. 

The  European  trip  was  abandoned,  and  Harrold 
was  placed  with  the  American  teacher.  In  two  weeks 
he  had  mastered  two  important  grand  opera  roles: 
Canio,  in  "Pagliacci,"  and  the  Duke,  in  "Rigoletto." 
It  is  not  an  exaggerated  statement  to  observe  here  that 
Harrold  held  his  own  with  the  world's  greatest  singers, 
with  whom  he  was  cast,  and  it  was  this  fact  that 
caused  Hammerstein  to  contract  with  his  protege  for 
ten  years. 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  283 

In  order  that  Harrold  should  have  an  income  while 
pursuing  his  studies,  he  was  given  the  tenor  role  in 
"Naughty  Marietta,"  which  ran  in  New  York  all  last 
Winter. 

Oscar  Hammerstein  has  kept  himself  informed  as  to 
the  progress  made  by  his  protege,  and  to  his  intimates 
he  has  been  wont  to  say  : 

"When  Orville  Harrold  sings  in  'William  Tell*  at  my 
new  opera  house  in  London,  Caruso  will  have  a  rival 
—  the  first  to  come  on  the  horizon." 

It  is  yet  too  early  to  discuss  this  prophecy,  but  that 
Harrold's  sensational  success  has  provided  a  great  in- 
centive for  American  singers  and  will  have  the  ef- 
fect of  creating  a  prolific  field  in  this  country  for  native 
vocal  instruction,  no  one  can  doubt. 


From  nearly  every  great  European  city  comes  the 
news  of  a  sensational  furore  created  by  the  revival 
(after  nearly  three  decades)  of  the  Offenbach  craze 
due  to  the  acclaim  with  which  "La  Belle  Helene"  has 
been  received.  An  amazing  illustration  of  the  advance- 
ment in  musical  taste  in  our  own  country  is  the  fact 
that  the  now  popular  "Contes  d'  Hoffmann"  was  a  com- 
plete fiasco  when  presented  in  New  York  City  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  in  the  Fall  of  1882. 

At  that  time  Jacques  Offenbach  was  famed  for  his 
"Barbe  Bleu,"  "Grande  Duchesse"  and  his  "La  Jolie 
Parfumeuse."  Even  "La  Belle  Helene,"  when  pro- 
duced in  America,  was  not  exceptionally  successful. 
But  taken  as  a  whole,  no  musical  furore  ever  excelled 
the  wonderful  Offenbach  craze  in  this  country.  His 


284 Cfre    g)tage    in    tfte 

"La  Grande  Duchesse,"  when  produced  by  my  uncle, 
Jacob  Grau,  ran  two  hundred  and  fifty  nights,  playing 
to  packed  houses. 

In  1876  my  brother,  Maurice,  succeeded  in  enticing 
the  famous  composer  himself  to  these  shores.  His 
idea  was  that  the  public  would  pay  fabulous  prices 
to  gaze  on  the  back  of  the  man  who  had  set  people 
literally  crazy  with  his  entrancing  melodies.  Offen- 
bach was  accordingly  engaged  for  thirty  nights  to 
conduct  an  orchestra  of  sixty  musicians  in  programmes 
of  his  own  compositions  at  Madison  Square  Garden, 
New  York.  He  was  to  receive  a  fee  of  $1,000  a  night 
— regarded  at  that  time  as  unprecedented. 

In  June,  1876,  the  father  of  opera  bouffe  arrived  in 
New  York  City  amidst  an  excitement  such  as  has 
never  been  equalled  to  this  day.  The  people  seemed 
to  think  that  Offenbach  would  begin  to  dance  the 
"can-can"  as  soon  as  he  set  his  foot  on  our  shores, 
and  crowds  were  at  the  steamship  wharf  to  greet  him. 
On  the  night  of  his  arrival  he  was  serenaded  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  by  the  Musicians'  Union  of  New 
York.  A  crowd  said  to  number  fifty  thousand  people 
filled  Madison  Square  and  shouted  welcome  to  the 
composer  until  he  appeared  on  the  balcony  of  the 
hotel. 

Offenbach  weighed  just  ninety  pounds.  He  was 
perhaps  the  least  imposing  man  in  appearance  one 
could  possibly  imagine.  He  spoke  excellent  English, 
thanking  the  people  for  his  reception.  He  retired  in 
less  than  one  minute  and  the  crowd  went  home  thor- 
oughly disappointed  because  the  man  who  wrote 
"Orphee  aux  Enfers"  did  not  dance  on  the  balcony. 

At  length  the  opening  of  the  concert  was  given  to 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  285 

an  audience  of  six  thousand  persons.  The  garden  was 
crowded,  but  the  audience  was  not  a  distinctly  musical 
one.  The  majority  of  the  people  had  come  to  see  just 
how  Offenbach  would  behave  when  he  came  to  con- 
duct the  airs  over  which  they  had  raved. 

At  last  Offenbach  came  into  the  orchestra  pit.  The 
orchestra  gave  him  a  fanfare.  The  audience  rose  at 
him  as  if  he  were  a  conqueror.  The  applause  lasted 
two  minutes  and  then  silence  prevailed. 

The  absence  of  the  voices  of  the  opera  singers,  the 
lack  of  the  mise  en  scene,  seemed  to  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  night. 

After  the  first  part  was  over  one-third  of  the  audi- 
ence went  home. 

When  all  seemed  to  be  lost,  my  brother,  with  that 
ingenious  foresight  which  characterized  his  business 
career,  began  to  plead  with  Offenbach  to  meet  the 
public  clamor  for  a  sensational  conductor. 

"What  can  I  do?  What  will  you  have  me  do?  I 
want  to  help  you,  but  you  can't  get  me  to  make  a 
clown  of  myself,"  said  Offenbach. 

The  only  thing  remaining  was  to  induce  Offenbach 
to  conduct  some  performances  of  his  operas  with  the 
hope  of  retrieving  the  great  loss  which  the  concerts 
had  brought  about. 

By  producing  "La  Jolie  Parfumeuse,"  with  Aimee  in 
the  cast,  my  brother  succeeded  in  recovering  his  losses. 
Offenbach,  of  course,  was  the  conductor,  and  the  first 
seven  performances  brought  $20,000.  Despite  the 
favorable  financial  outcome  of  this  venture,  Offenbach 
was  disgusted  with  America,  and  in  his  book  about 
us,  what  he  did  not  say  would  make  far  pleasanter 
reading  than  that  which  found  expression. 


286  _  Cfte   ^tage   in   tfte 

Offenbach  was  a  prince  of  good  fellows,  and  his 
witticisms  are  remembered  by  old  New  York  club  men 
to  this  day.  When  Offenbach  was  conducting  at  the 
Madison  Square  Garden,  Theo.  Thomas  was  conduct- 
ing some  concerts  uptown.  A  friend  asked  Thomas 
why  he  never  put  any  of  Offenbach's  compositions 
upon  his  programmes  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  for- 
eigner. "What,"  shouted  Thomas  angrily,  "me  con- 
duct an  Offenbach  composition  —  never  will  I  do  any- 
thing so  degrading."  Offenbach  heard  of  this,  and 
laughing  heartily,  replied:  "Please  tell  Mr.  Thomas 
that  I  will  not  be  so  particular.  I  shall  be  most  happy 
to  conduct  any  composition  of  Theodore  Thomas  when 
he  reaches  the  dignity  of  becoming  a  composer." 


The  building  of  the  Simplex  projector  is  the  evolu- 
tion of  various  projecting  machines  made  from  time  to 
time  by  expert  mechanical  inventors,  who  have  been 
practical  operators  since  the  birth  of  the  motion  picture 
art.  With  a  practical  knowledge  of  what  is  required 
by  the  public  when  a  picture  is  thrown  on  the  screen, 
thoroughly  conversant  with  the  demands  of  the  differ- 
ent city  departments,  it  offers  to  the  operator  the 
easiest  to  thread,  most  simple  machine  to  operate,  and 
at  the  same  time  gives  absolute  immunity  from  all  fire 
risk  by  reason  of  the  enclosure  of  operating  mechanism 
and  film,  and  the  consequent  freedom  from  dust  and 
dirt  settling  on  gears,  etc. 

The  table  for  lamphouse  is  provided  with  a  substan- 
tial swing  movement  which  instantaneously  brings  the 
lamp  into  optical  centre  either  with  the  M.  P.  Pro- 


Ctocntfetfr    Centurg 287 

jection  or  stereopticon  lenses,  and  the  tilting  arrange- 
ment, giving  ample  latitude,  is  governed  by  the  moving 
of  the  support  through  the  arc  provided  at  the  back  of 
the  stand. 

The  base,  at  its  centre,  rests  on  a  device  by  which 
the  machine  can  be  swung  to  right  or  left,  and  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  this  stand,  together  with  its  table 
support,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  head  and  lamp- 
house,  owing  to  careful  calculation  provides  a  machine 
of  perfect  rigidity  and  freedom  from  all  vibration. 

With  the  Simplex  projector  it  is  possible  to  get  the 
very  best  conditions  with  the  condensers,  as  the  back 
mount  is  adjustable ;  when  the  right  selection  is  made 
the  convex  sides  should  be  as  close  together  as  possible 
in  order  to  have  a  perfect  foci.  If  the  condensers  are 
properly  selected  (taking  advantage  of  the  adjustable 
mount)  the  result  will  be  a  perfect  white  light  all  over 
the  picture  entirely  eliminating  the  objectionable  blue 
spot,  which  causes  so  much  criticism  of  the  operator. 

While  the  shutter  is  sent  out  approximately  adjusted, 
there  is  a  small  knurled  knob  on  the  lamphouse  side  of 
the  mechanism  just  below  the  automatic  shutter.  As 
soon  as  the  picture  is  on  the  screen,  if  there  is  any  per- 
ceptible ghost,  it  is  only  necessary  to  turn  this  knob  to 
the  right  or  left  (with  left  hand)  to  bring  the  shutter 
into  perfect  alignment  while  the  machine  is  in  motion. 
This  is  a  real  boon  to  the  inexperienced  operator,  also 
to  the  experienced  old  timers,  for  they  can  remember 
how  often  their  show  has  been  spoiled  by  not  being 
able  to  control  this  delicate  adjustment  while  the  ma- 
chine is  in  motion. 

Another  advantage  to  users  of  the  Simplex  is  the 
film  trap  door.  It  often  happens  while  running  fresh 


288  _  Cfu    S>tage    in    tfte 

films  through  a  projecting  machine,  the  emulsion  sticks 
to  the  trap  door  springs  in  long  streaks  ;  every  opera- 
tor knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  remove  the  emulsion 
after  it  has  caked  hard.  With  the  Simplex  it  only  is 
necessary  to  push  the  knob  that  opens  the  film  trap 
door,  grip  the  door  and  lift  it  up  to  the  stop,  then  pull 
forward  away  from  the  machine;  there  is  now  plenty 
of  room  to  clean  the  trap.  The  door  can  be  cleaned 
while  being  held  in  hand. 


On  the  evening  of  February  7th,  1912,  an  entertain- 
ment was  tendered  Mrs.  Metcalfe,  president  of  the  Edu- 
cational Department  of  the  Gotham  Club,  by  Mr.  Rich 
G.  Hollaman,  at  the  Eden  Musee,  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent, for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the  efficiency 
of  the  educational  film  for  use  as  a  supplement  to  the 
text  book  in  the  schools.  In  an  interview  with  Mr.  Hol- 
laman prior  to  the  entertainment  he  said,  "We  are  pre- 
pared to  demonstrate  that  the  moving  picture  can  be 
made  supplementary  to  the  textbook  in  connection  with 
every  subject  which  is  taught  in  the  schools,  except 
algebra  and  arithmetic." 

As  chairman  of  the  Gotham  Club,  and  as  member  of 
the  D.  A.  R.  and  other  prominent  clubs,  Mrs.  Metcalfe 
requested  that  representatives  from  the  women's  clubs 
of  the  five  boroughs  be  allowed  to  view  the  demonstra- 
tion, which  request  was  gladly  granted  by  Mr.  Holla- 
man. Representatives  from  the  Knickerbocker  Club, 
the  Minerva  Club,  the  Illuminati  Club,  the  Staten 
Island  branch  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  teachers  and  others  were 
present. 


C  to  e  n  1  1  e  t  f)    Centurg  _  289 

The  programme  was  the  same  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions, as  that  shown  to  the  Board  of  Education  some 
three  weeks  or  so  previous,  consisting  of  films  treating 
of  the  following  subjects:  Science,  geography,  natural 
history,  chemistry,  literature,  history,  drama,  etc. 

Mrs.  Metcalfe  was  assisted  in  receiving  the  guest  of 
the  evening  by  Mrs.  A.  A.  Brooks,  president  of  the 
Gotham  Club,  Miss  Josephine  Walton,  Mrs.  A.  A. 
Cloud,  Mrs.  Minnie  Baer,  Miss  Marie  Baer,  Mrs.  Wm. 
H.  Lock,  Mrs.  James  G.  Elaine  and  Mrs.  J.  E.  Palmer. 

The  demonstration  was  voted  a  huge  success  by  all 
those  present,  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  the 
women's  clubs,  after  the  wonderful  examples  set  forth 
upon  the  screen  by  Mr.  Hollaman,  will  leave  no  stone 
unturned  in  order  to  make  education  by  moving  pic- 
tures a  universal  thing. 

I  may  further  add,  Mr.  Hollaman  said  that  such  an 
exhibition  has  never  been  given  in  the  history  of  cine- 
matography in  the  city  of  New  York  as  was  given  on 
this  occasion  at  the  Eden  Musee.  Mr.  Hollaman,  as 
the  oldest  exhibitor  in  New  York,  should  know  where- 
of he  speaks. 


"Teach  through  the  eye  as  well  as  the  ear**  has  long 
been  a  slogan  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Company, 
of  Dayton,  Ohio,  a  concern  recognized  as  one  of  the 
leaders  in  up-to-date  and  scientific  factory  manage- 
ment. 

For  years  they  have  studiously  applied  this  idea  in 
their  own  business  by  using  motion  pictures  to  teach 
employees  and  the  public. 


290 Cfte   ^tage   in    tfte 

Not  only  do  motion  pictures  arouse  interest  more 
readily,  but  the  understanding  will  be  reached  much 
quicker  and  the  idea  itself  impressed  strongly  for 
having  come  through  the  eye  as  well  as  the  ear. 

Moving  pictures  of  factory  processes  two  years  ago, 
and  to-day  brings  strikingly  to  mind  the  improvements 
made.  This  impresses  employees  with  the  fact  that 
their  work  can  be  bettered  and  to  keep  watching  for 
ideas  to  better  it. 

Moving  pictures  of  the  factory  and  work  going  on  in 
the  plant  are  also  used  in  a  factory  lecture  given  before 
public  gatherings  and  conventions.  Improved  work- 
ing conditions,  safety  devices  for  employees'  protec- 
tion, sanitary  working  conditions  and  scenes  about  the 
factory  are  shown. 

Kinemacolor,  or  motion  pictures  in  natural  colors, 
are  used  to  show  the  public  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
actual  conditions  as  a  personal  visit  to  the  factory 
would  and  also  to  impress  these  conditions  on  their 
memory. 

*    *'* 

The  Gaumont  Company  is  perhaps  the  most  aggres- 
sive moving  picture  company  in  the  world  to-day,  and 
represents  in  its  present  status,  the  progressive  devel- 
opment of  one  of  the  oldest  concerns  of  its  kind  now  in 
business.  Their  activities  in  this  realm  have  been 
widespread,  covering  the  manufacture  of  the  moving 
picture  machine,  the  chronophone,  the  moving  picture 
machine  synchronically  arranged  to  the  talking  machine 
and  the  photoplay  itself.  In  the  latter  field,  Gaumont 
has  achieved  its  greatest  reputation  both  in  the  United 


Ctoentiett)    Centutg 291 

States  and  on  the  Continent.  For  many  years  the  Gau- 
mont  picture  has  been  the  eagerly  sought  prize  of  the 
licensed  exhibitors  in  this  country,  but  at  the  inception 
of  1912  this  concern  launched  into  the  independent 
field,  where  it  now  holds  the  attention  of  the  film  world. 
Never  before  has  so  large  and  powerful  a  manufacturer 
championed  the  cause  of  the  open  market,  and  many 
are  his  adherents  who  have  flocked  to  him.  The  pres- 
ence of  Gaumont  in  this  position  means  that  the  inde- 
pendent market  can  boast  of  hand-colored  pictures,  a 
topical  weekly  photo  journal,  known  as  the  Gaumont 
Weekly,  as  well  as  a  firm  whose  photography  is  above 
reproach,  all  three  of  which  they  so  lamentably  were 
deprived  of,  and  furthermore  means  that  the  independ- 
ent field  is  placed  on  an  equal  plane  with  the  licensed 
market. 

As  yet,  the  Gaumont  Company  has  imported  only  for- 
eign made  film  to  this  country,  but  the  Summer  of  1912 
will  find  this  eminent  French  concern  equipped  with  an 
American  studio  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  on  territory 
adjoining  the  quarters  now  occupied  by  their  offices. 
This  means  that  Gaumont  American  pictures  will  be 
offered  the  exhibitors  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
the  programme  of  this  concern  will  consist  of  both 
American  and  French  comedy  and  drama,  of  course, 
and  it  also  means  that  the  Gaumont  stock  companies, 
already  famous  for  their  foreign  output — will  be  dupli- 
cated in  the  American  studio  as  to  calibre  and  technical 
perfection. 

•!•  «{•  <$• 

The  advent  of  Oliver  Morosco  in  these  parts  is  a 
natural    outcome    of    the    really    remarkable    record 


292 C6e    g>tage    in    tfae 

achieved  by  this  well-known  California  manager  in  Los 
Angeles  and  in  the  Northwest  generally.  It  was  only 
a  question  of  time  when  a  demand  would  come  for  the 
presentation  in  the  large  Eastern  cities  of  some  of  the 
plays  which  Mr.  Morosco  has  conjured  with  on  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

We  have  been  hearing  a  lot  about  "one  hundred  and 
fifty-night  runs"  for  plays  in  Los  Angeles,  when  such 
an  achievement  was  becoming  rare  indeed  even  in  New 
York.  And  the  Messrs.  Shubert  seem  to  have  once 
more  shown  their  ability  to  "pick,"  for  the  first  of  Mr. 
Morosco's  offerings,  "The  Bird  of  Paradise"  scored  an 
instantaneous  success  in  a  season  by  no  means  prolific 
in  uncovering  worthy  new  material,  but  this  new  play 
is  not  only  a  great  artistic  success,  but  possesses  the 
element  of  increasing  its  vogue  as  its  sun  progresses. 

There  is  room  on  "the  Rialto"  for  Oliver  Morosco. 
Evidently  the  California  manager  is  well  aware  of  this 
fact,  for  his  second  offering,  "The  Truth  Wagon," 
though  not  unanimously  commended  by  the  critics,  has 
shown  the  same  quality  as  "The  Bird  of  Paradise"  in 
that  it  grows  on  the  public. 

At  the  time  of  this  writing  "The  Truth  Wagon" 
shows  every  indication  of  permanent  success,  hence  the 
remarkable  spectacle  of  two  compelling  productions 
presented  by  a  new  figure  in  the  East  is  now  on  view. 
Moreover,  Mr.  Morosco  has  that  which  none  of  our 
New  York  managers  or  producers  have — for  out  there 
in  Los  Angeles  he  has  a  "factory" — not  a  very  dignified 
name  for  a  model  stock  theatre,  yet  it  is  just  such  "fac- 
tories" that  would  greatly  change  the  theatrical  situa- 
tion in  New  York,  and  for  that  matter  throughout 
the  country. 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 293 

Oliver  Morosco  is  of  that  mould  from  whence  came 
our  Augustin  Dalys  and  our  A.  M.  Palmers — and  there 
is  nothing  that  this  new  volume  has  to  record  of 
greater  moment  than  the  probability  that  his  activity 
will  be  in  this  section  of  the  country  hereafter,  rather 
than  confining  himself  to  that  wonder  city  of  the  far 
West.  Mr.  Morosco,  however,  is  not  the  only  new 
figure  among  the  producers  for  the  stage.  Lewis 
Waller,  like  his  American  colleague,  has  been  much 
impressed  with  conditions  as  he  found  them  in  the 
great  metropolis.  These  gentlemen  represent  perhaps 
the  best  asset  the  theatre-going  public  has,  for  they  are 
not  merely  managerial  figures,  but  are  qualified  to 
build  a  production  from  every  viewpoint.  Mr.  Waller 
is  better  known  in  London  as  a  producer  of  plays  than 
as  a  stellar  figure,  though  in  America  the  English 
actor-manager  came  hither  not  expecting  to  do  more 
than  fulfil  his  engagement  with  Liebler  &  Company 
in  "The  Garden  of  Allah,"  but  long  before  the  end  of 
his  own  engagement  he  produced  "The  Butterfly  on 
the  Wheel,"  scoring  a  sensational  success,  not  only 
for  the  play  itself,  but  in  introducing  Madge  Tither- 
adge  to  American  audiences.  Mr.  Waller  achieved  a 
double  triumph,  particularly  in  view  of  the  almost 
total  lack  of  preliminary  "puffery."  Both  star  and 
play  came  to  us  with  a  London  endorsement,  but  there 
was  nothing  to  indicate  the  furore  that  resulted. 

Prompted  no  doubt  by  his  initial  triumph  as  a  pro- 
ducer, Mr.  Waller  has  obtained  his  release  from  his 
engagement  with  Liebler  &  Company,  and  has  ex- 
pressed himself  as  inclined  to  embark  extensively  in 
American  theatricals,  the  field  to  such  as  he  being  a 
virgin  one. 


294  Clu    Stage    in    tfic 

In  his  second  production  Mr.  Waller  appears  him- 
self, the  play  being  "Monsieur  Beaucaire,"  in  which 
Richard  Mansfield  distinguished  himself  in  the  zenith 
of  his  career.  Again  Mr.  Waller  introduces  an  Eng- 
lish actress  in  Grace  Lane,  who  appeared  in  England 
with  Mr.  Waller  in  the  same  play. 


Ctoentietft    Century  295 


CHAPTER  XVI 

The  month  of  April,  1912,  will  be  noted  in  musical 
history  for  what  can  be  set  down  as  the  most  im- 
portant— if  not  indeed  the  most  epochal — event  of  the 
last  fifty  years  in  the  musical  world. 

Thanks  to  the  intrepid  Howard  Pew,  of  New  York, 
and  his  associate,  Warren  K.  Fales,  of  Providence, 
R.  I.,  American  music  lovers  are  to  be  privileged  to 
hear  the  London  Symphony  Orchestra,  and  to  wel- 
come once  more  Herr  Arthur  Nikisch,  perhaps  the 
greatest  conductor  of  symphonic  scores  in  the  world. 
Truly,  then,  this  is  an  epochal  event. 

xwenty-four  concerts  have  been  arranged  by 
Messrs.  Pew  and  Fales  in  twenty-three  cities,  all 
within  a  period  of  twenty  days,  from  April  8th  to 
27th.  The  itinerary  has  been  laid  out  by  Mr. 
Pew  in  a  manner  showing  much  ingenuity  in  an 
effort  to  conciliate  the  demands  of  the  entire  coun- 
try in  the  allotted  period  of  twenty  days.  The  lay- 
man little  comprehends  the  many  problems  confront- 
ing the  entrepreneur  in  an  undertaking  of  this  char- 
acter. The  writer  has  observed  the  tournees  of  the 
Pattis,  the  Carusos  and  the  all-star  Lambs  and 
Friars'  tours,  but  in  every  detail  the  Nikisch  itinerary 
has  been  guided  by  a  master  hand.  Convention  halls, 
armories  and  hippodromes  were  secured  in  the  effort  to 
draw  and  accommodate  the  public  from  afar,  while 
the  cities  selected  are  ones  where  great  musical  at- 


296  Cfce    Stage    in    tbe 

tractions  have  never  wanted  for  vast  patronage.  If 
every  concert  draws  a  capacity  audience  —  and  this 
is  expected—profit  to  Messrs.  Pew  and  Fales  cannot 
be  large,  and  when  it  is  considered  that  the  prelimi- 
naries required  nearly  a  year  to  perfect,  one  may  form 
an  idea  as  to  whether  public  spirit  is  wholly  lacking 
in  the  impresario  of  modern  times. 


While  on  the  subject  of  extraordinary  tours,  I  must 
once  more  pay  a  tribute  to  that  indefatigable  "show- 
man," William  Morris.  In  the  previous  volumes  I 
ventured  to  predict  that  this  gentleman  would  not  pro- 
vide an  edifying  spectacle  as  the  head  of  any  cheap; 
vaudeville  circuit,  hence  his  advent  as  the  impresario 
of  the  Warsaw  cantor,  Gerson  Sirota,  is  interesting. 

Mr.  Morris  in  some  way  or  other  became  affiliated 
with  Max  Rabinoff  for  the  American  appearances 
of  the  Russian  singer.  There  was  nothing  to  indicate 
that  any  furore  would  be  created,  but  Mr.  Morris 
seems  to  have  been  attracted  to  the  enterprise  by  the 
potency  of  the  term  "Chazan,"  and  there  are  those 
who  believe  that  the  tremendous  financial  success  at- 
tending the  Sirota  tour  is  greatly  due  to  the  use  of 
this  word,  attracting  the  Jewish  public  everywhere 
at  a  scale  of  prices  for  seats  up  to  $3.00.  The  vast 
Hippodrome  was  sold  out  twice,  and  Carnegie  Hall 
three  times.  The  receipts  at  the  box  office  per  con- 
cert averaged  about  $5,000.  It  may  be  that  Sirota 
would  have  been  a  success  even  if  he  had  not  been 
advertised  as  a  "Chazan,"  but  few  there  are  who  be- 
lieve that  the  phenomenal  results  financially  are  not 
due  to  Mr.  Morris*  managerial  methods. 


Ctoentteti)    Centtttp  297 

The  advent  of  Martin  Beck  and  what  is  known  as 
"the  Orpheum  System,"  in  the  metropolis  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  erection  of  the  Palace  Theatre 
in  the  Long  Acre  district  should  mean  a  vigorous  im- 
petus to  the  vaudeville  situation,  and  this  is  some- 
thing that  was  greatly  needed  at  this  time,  for  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  with  the  many  encroachments 
that  the  vaudeville  managers  have  had  to  contend, 
something  was  about  due  to  arouse  these  gentlemen 
and  provide  them  with  incentive  to  maintain  a  stand- 
ard without  which  this  most  lucrative  field  of  endeavor 
might  have  entered  upon  a  retrograde  movement. 

Martin  Beck,  however,  is  only  carrying  out  plans 
formed  years  ago,  and  how  elaborate  these  plans  are 
may  be  assumed  from  the  announcements  made  up  to 
this  writing.  The  engagement  of  Sarah  Bernhardt 
as  the  inaugural  attraction  in  the  new  theatre  is  full 
of  significance;  the  effect  of  such  an  announcement 
cannot  be  measured  in  advance,  though  it  is  true  that 
Sarah  has  appeared  in  the  London  music  halls  with 
the  greatest  possible  acclaim,  nevertheless  there  is 
something  almost  approaching  doubt  that  the  di- 
vine one  really  will  appear  in  a  theatre  of  varieties.  It 
is  known  that  many  have  frowned  on  the  spectacle 
of  the  greatest  living  actress  in  the  environment  of 
the  "two  a  day,"  but  Madame  Bernhardt  herself  is, 
firm  in  her  belief  that  she  can  maintain  her  artistic! 
standard  under  such  conditions. 

Perhaps  if  the  great  French  actress  entered  the 
vaudeville  field  in  an  ordinary  way,  the  fears  of  the 
discriminative  ones  would  be  justified,  but  in  a  previ- 
ous writing  I  ventured  to  predict  that  Mr.  Beck  would 
reach  these  parts  about  the  year  1913  and  that 


298  _  Ci)c   g>tage   in   tbe 

his  coming  would  usher  in  an  era  of  "two  dollar  a 
seat  vaudeville,"  wherein  the  offerings  on  the  stage 
would  be  on  a  plane  superior  to  anything  the  wildest 
dreamer  could  prophesy.  Not  only  is  there  the  Bern- 
hardt  capture  by  Mr.  Beck,  but  as  illustrative  of  the 
class  of  attractions  the  programme  will  be  composed 
of,  we  are  already  promised  playlets  by  Belasco  and 
produced  by  him.  Surely,  then,  the  Palace  Theatre  is 
extremely  likely  to  stand  by  itself  as  the  Twentieth 
Century  music  hall. 


The  Coburn  Players  have  attracted  widespread  at- 
tention at  Columbia,  Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton,  Bryn 
Mawr  and  many  other  colleges,  where  al  fresco  per- 
formances have  been  of  unusual  interest.  They  appear 
under  their  auspices  yearly,  and  the  heads  of  these 
institutions  are  unanimous  in  praising  the  unusually 
fine  performances  of  this  band  of  woodland  players.  A 
most  interesting  feature  of  the  performances  is  that 
they  will  be  given  with  only  the  sky  for  a  roof,  and 
with  a  natural  background  of  forest  with  trees  and 
shrubs  for  the  setting.  The  night  performance  will 
be  lighted  by  powerful  calciums  which  throw  the 
tree-bowered  stage  into  fine  relief  and  the  audience 
into  obscurity,  as  it  should  be.  The  music  incidental 
to  the  performance  is  not  played  by  instruments,  but 
sung  by  a  chorus  of  men's  voices,  rendering  the  quaint 
old  songs  of  Shakespeare's  day  in  an  exquisitely  enter- 
taining fashion.  The  company  is  a  particularly  good 
one,  composed  as  it  is  of  men  and  women  who,  be- 
sides being  thoroughly  competent,  experienced  actors 


Ctoentfetj)   Centutp  _  299 

and  Shakespearean  students  bring  their  enthusiasm  to 
bear  in  their  various  parts. 

In  the  production  of  the  plays  the  greatest  care  has 
been  exercised  to  insure  the  absolute  authenticity  of 
the  costumes,  songs  and  other  details  of  the  perform- 
ance. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coburn  and  their  excellent  company 
have  really  established  themselves  with  the  leading 
universities,  and  as  a  result  of  their  efforts  have 
spread  the  gospel  of  Shakespeare  where  it  was  most 
needed. 


The  Kalem  Company,  being  one  of  the  earliest  pro- 
ducers of  film,  has  not  been  content  to  merely  main- 
tain its  high  standard,  but  its  directorate  established 
a  policy  almost  from  the  outset  to  invest  their  output 
with  a  distinctive  quality  that  has  enabled  the  com- 
pany to  practically  stand  alone. 

Despite  the  many  manufacturers  of  film,  it  is  the 
aim  at  least  of  the  leaders  to  typify  their  offerings  to 
an  extent  that  the  exhibitor  and  the  patron  may  avoid 
conflict  in  their  quest  for  entertainment,  and  it  is  this 
policy  no  doubt  which  caused  the  Kalems  to  enter  the 
almost  forgotten  field  of  Irish  drama.  If  the  moving 
picture  had  done  nothing  more  than  to  preserve  the 
art  that  lies  hidden  in  such  dear  old  plays  as  "Arrah 
Na  Pogue,"  the  "Colleen  Bawn,"  and  "The  O'Neill," 
its  advent  as  a  public  entertainer  would  not  have  been 
in  vain.  I  have  seen  some  of  the  most  famous  players 
of  other  days  in  these  classics  of  the  stage,  but  not 
even  Dion  Boucicault  or  Dominick  Murray  in  their 
zenith  ever  presented  them  with  more  reverence  for  ar- 


300  _  Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

tistic  detail  than  that  characterizing  the  photographic 
production  of  the  Kalems.  Undoubtedly  nature's  own 
resources,  unavailable  to  the  stage  producer,  has 
greatly  enhanced  the  production  when  transferred  to 
the  screen,  but  it  is  in  the  excellence  of  the  casts  in 
the  photo-plays  above  named  that  the  Kalem  Com- 
pany achieves  its  greatest  triumph. 

Irish  plays,  however,  do  not  constitute  the  sole  of- 
ferings of  this  company,  in  fact,  the  several  stock  com- 
panies equipped  by  them,  operate  in  different  coun- 
tries, with  a  persistent  effort  to  uncover  beautiful 
scenery  and  ancient  relics  of  historical  work. 

Recently  I  was  amazed  at  the  manner  in  which  the 
film,  "Two  Spies,"  was  portrayed.  The  plot  had  basic 
ideas  enough  to  make  a  three-act  play,  but  the  in- 
tense interest  of  the  audience  for  fifteen  minutes  was 
worth  watching.  Alice  Joyce  as  one  of  the  spies  is 
really  artistic.  Often  I  do  wonder  why  the  moving 
picture  players  are  such  superior  pantomimists,  and 
how  they  do  play  up  to  the  camera? 


If  pantomime  is  really  to  be  revived,  we  have  the 
moving  picture  to  thank  for  its  resurrection,  and  we 
have  the  word  of  no  less  an  authority  than  Max  Rein- 
hardt  to  this  effect. 

The  success  of  "Sumurun,"  however,  does  not  indi- 
cate that  there  is  a  great  public  desire  for  the  old 
style  of  pantomime,  such  as  had  great  vogue  in  the 
days  of  George  L.  Fox.  Poor  Fox,  he  took  pantomime 
to  his  grave  with  him,  it  seems,  at  least  as  far  as  this 
country  is  concerned,  and  yet  it  is  hard  to  believe  that 
a  production  of  the  real  trick  pantomime,  such  aa 


Ctoentietfr    Centutg 301 

"Humpty  Dumpty,"  with  its  clowns,  pantaloons,  col- 
umbines and  harlequins,  would  fail  to  attract  in  mod- 
ern times,  particularly  in  view  of  the  great  enhance- 
ment that  would  come  from  the  vast  progress  in  the 
scenic  and  mechanical  departments  of  the  theatre. 

Edwin  Booth  once  said  that  pantomime  required 
greater  gifts  of  expression  on  the  part  of  the  player 
than  tragedy,  that  the  silent  drama  was  more  difficult 
to  interpret  than  blank  verse.  And  this  is  partly 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  pantomimists  were  invari- 
ably great  actors.  It  is  not  generally  known  that 
George  L.  Fox  played  "Hamlet"  often  during  his  ca- 
reer, and  he  played  it  seriously,  too,  but  the  audiences 
would  not  have  him,  as  a  tragedian.  They  were  wont 
to  "guy"  the  clown  they  adored  when  he  sought  to 
enthrall  them  as  the  melancholy  Dane,  and  he  died  of 
a  broken  heart. 

I  know  of  but  one  actor  of  to-day  whom  I  would 
dare  to  entrust  the  role  of  "Humpty  Dumpty"  to. 
Surely  none  of  the  new  school  of  players  could  cope 
with  such  an  effort,  and  of  the  old  school  with  versa- 
tility and  mimetic  gifts  requisite,  there  is  only  Nat  C. 
Goodwin.  May  I  not  hope  that  the  Messrs.  Shubert 
who  have  shown  much  discernment  in  revivals,  or 
perhaps  Mr.  Brady,  who  never  fails  to  correctly  meas- 
ure the  public  taste,  will  make  the  venture,  but  not 
at  the  Hippodrome,  for  the  very  first  law  of  panto- 
mime is  the  intimate  relation  between  audiences  and 
players. 

«£,     4     eg, 

The  introduction  of  the  pipe  organ  in  the  homes  of 
the  wealthy  is  of  quite  recent  date.  At  least  four  in- 


302 Cftc    g)ta0e    in    tfte 

struments  costing  between  $50,000  and  $100,000  each 
are  to  be  seen  and  heard  by  the  privileged  few  in  New 
York  City.  These  are  in  the  residences  of  Andrew 
Carnegie  (Fifth  Avenue),  Senator  William  H.  Clark 
(Fifth  Avenue),  Charles  M.  Schwab  (Riverside 
Drive),  and  Frederick  G.  Bourne  (Oakdale,  L.  I.) 

The  Aeolian  Company,  whose  pianola  has  revolu- 
tionized the  vast  piano  industry,  is  the  maker  of  these 
remarkable  organs,  and  it  is  stated  that  Jhis  company 
has  kept  so  well  apace  with  progress  that  despite  the 
advent  of  newer  instruments,  the  organ  is  the  coveted 
prize  for  the  home.  This  is  so  true  that  the  number 
of  organs  costing  in  excess  of  $5,000  is  extremely 
large. 

But  there  are  organs  and  there  are  organs.  At 
least  one  man  has  made  the  development  of  the  organ 
his  life  work,  and  it  is  the  achievement  of  Robert 
Hope- Jones,  which  causes  the  subject  to  be  treated  in 
this  volume,  for  .the  reason  that  he  has  invented  in  his 
unit  orchestra,  an  instrument  that  is  extremely  likely 
to  create  greatly  changed  conditions  in  the  world  of 
music. 

Mr.  Hope-Jones  is  an  Englishman,  an  electrician 
with  a  passion  for  the  organ.  The  first  demonstration 
of  the  unit  orchestra  took  place  at  the  vast  auditorium 
at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  and  there  tens  of  thousands  of 
music-lovers  were  attracted  again  and  again  to  hear 
the  instrument,  which  Mme.  Schumann-Heink  has 
pronounced  the  marvel  of  the  present  era. 

Since  exploiting  the  unit  orchestra  at  Ocean  Grove, 
the  inventor  affiliated  himself  with  the  famous  house 
of  Winlitzer,  of  Cincinnati,  and  after  effecting  several 
improvements,  the  attention  of  theatrical  managers 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  303 

was  called  to  the  fact  that  this  "one-man  orchestra" 
would  mean  a  saving  of  the  salaries  of  the  musicians, 
and  at  the  same  time  give  a  superior  orchestral  per- 
formance. Already  several  managers  have  made  the 
experiment  successfully,  and  one  manager  controlling 
a  score  of  theatres,  has  given  an  order  for  the  unit 
orchestra  to  be  placed  in  all  of  them.  Of  course,  the 
instruments  are  costly,  the  price  ranging  from  $5,000 
to  $25,000,  according  to  size. 


To  those  who  decry  the  photo-play  industry,  it  may 
be  of  interest  to  know  that  an  enterprise  like  that  of 
the  American  Vitagraph  Company  is  quite  as  large 
in  scope  as  that  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House 
Company,  while  the  development  is  going  on  so 
rapidly  that  one  must  wonder  just  what  is  the  goal 
of  this  new  element  among  showmen.  To  quote  Mar- 
shall P.  Wilder  (a  comedian  who  commands  $500  a 
week  salary)  : 

"The  Vitagraph  people  are  the  finest  I  ever  had 
business  relations  with.  Their  system  is  one  of  the 
strictest  rectitude,  and  I  never  was  in  a  more  con- 
genial environment." 

In  the  Vitagraph  stock  company  are  such  players 
as  William  Humphreys,  Van  Dyke  Brooke,  Hal  Reid, 
William  Shea,  Charles  Kent,  Lillian  Walker  and  Flor- 
ence Turner. 

The  film  production  of  "Nicholas  Nickleby,"  by  the 
Thanhouser  Company  involved  a  cast  such  as  one 
would  see  at  a  big  Spring  revival  at  a  Broadway 
theatre.  How  can  theatrical  managers  charging  two 


304 C6e    g>tage    in    tfte 

dollars  a  seat  expect  to  stave  off  the  encroachment  of 
the  photo-play,  when  the  film  producer  outdoes  him 
in  almost  every  detail?  I  recognized  at  least  three 
stars  in  the  Dickens  film,  these  were  Victory  Bate- 
man,  N.  S.  Wood,  and  Etienne  Girardot  (the  original 
"Charley's  Aunt"),  but  these  were  by  no  means  feat- 
ured, in  fact  the  cast  included  a  half  dozen  sterling 
players,  yet  the  production  is  not  offered  by  Mr.  Than- 
houser  as  extraordinary. 

The  American  Biograph  Company  is  the  outgrowth 
of  the  Mutoscope  Company,  which  came  forth  in  the 
late  nineties,  following  the  cinematograph  and  greatly 
improving  on  the  latter.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  Bio- 
graph  Company  that  they  have  maintained  their  stan- 
dard to  this  day,  despite  the  vastness  of  the  undertak- 
ings of  their  competitors.  The  biograph  does  not  ad- 
vertise its  players,  authors  or  producers,  nor  does  the 
directors  indulge  in  any  publicity  as  to  its  output. 
In  this  the  company  stands  alone.  However,  if  there 
is  one  company  among  the  manufacturers  of  film  jus- 
tified in  such  procedure,  it  surely  is  the  biograph.  The 
releases  are  always  noted  for  the  realistic  portrayals 
and  the  company  has  to  its  credit  a  score  of  produc- 
tions whose  fame  will  endure  for  years  to  come;  but 
one  recent  offering,  "Under  Burning  Skies,"  though 
only  three  unrecognized  players  were  cast  in  it,  was 
unquestionably  the  very  last  word  in  simulating  re- 
ality. Who  the  producer  was,  I  don't  know,  but  Mr. 
Belasco  could  not  have  emphasized  the  verity  of  the 
gripping  recital,  and  that  is  the  greatest  compliment  I 
can  pay  to  the  "Comedie  Francaise"  of  the  silent 
drama. 


JOSEPH  HART 

Producer. 


MARSHALL  P.  WILDER 
Now  an    Entertaining   Photo    Player 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 305 

Henry  Miller  has  achieved  a  larger  proportion  of 
successes  with  his  offerings  than  any  producer  of  plays 
in  this  country  for  the  last  seven  years.  Mr.  Miller 
evolved  "The  Great  Divide"  and  "Zira"  while  in  con- 
trol of  the  little  theatre  on  Broadway  between  Twen- 
ty-eighth and  Twenty-ninth  Streets,  now  an  office 
building.  This  theatre  then  known  as  "The  Princess," 
was  principally  noted  for  its  many  failures,  and  the 
above  named  plays  were  practically  the  only  ones 
financially  successful  there  during  the  more  than 
twenty  years  that  the  little  hall  was  utilized  for  stage 
productions.  At  the  Garrick  Theatre  Mr.  Miller  pro- 
duced "Her  Husband's  Wife"  successfully,  despite  the 
lateness  of  the  season.  Then  came  "Havoc,"  a  play 
with  only  three  characters,  but  which  served  Mr. 
Miller  as  a  stellar  vehicle  for  more  than  a  year  and  is 
not  yet  shelved  by  any  means. 

In  March,  1912  (at  the  Liberty  Theatre),  hardly  a 
propitious  season  of  the  year  to  venture  a  new  produc- 
tion, Mr.  Miller  presented  "The  Rainbow,"  by  A.  E. 
Thomas,  the  playwright  whom  Mr.  Miller  introduced 
with  "Her  Husband's  Wife,"  and  the  new  comedy  is 
one  of  the  sterling  successes  of  a  year  notable  for  the 
number  of  enduring  "hits."  Mr.  Thomas  has  been 
quite  as  fortunate  as  Mr.  Miller  himself,  for  although 
he  has  had  a  half  dozen  of  his  plays  presented  in  as 
many  years,  all  save  one  have  scored,  a  record  to  be 
proud  of,  particularly  for  a  native  playwright. 

In  Ruth  Chatterton,  Mr.  Miller  has  shown  that  he 
can  "pick"  players  as  well  as  plays.  This  young  lady 
is  already  discussed  as  a  candidate  for  stellar  honors 
in  the  near  future.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  rising 
generation  of  stage  calling  is  after  all  to  be  reckoned 


doe  C6e    Stage    in    tfte 

with.  Mr.  Belasco  is  to  promote  Mary  Nash  to  the 
stellar  ranks  the  season  of  1912-13,  and  with  such  pro- 
ducers as  Henry  Miller,  Oliver  Morosco,  and  Lewis 
Waller  very  active,  and  planning  productions  for  the 
new  season,  the  stage  will  not  enter  on  any  retrograde 
movement  just  yet. 

The  native  playwright  is  not  only  enriching  himself 
as  a  result  of  the  large  royalties  from  his  efforts,  but 
several  of  the  most  successful  have  become  quite  im- 
portant producers.  Eugene  Walter  has  not,  however, 
been  quite  as  fortunate  as  a  producer  of  his  own  plays 
as  have  been  the  various  managers,  who  assumed  this 
burden  for  him,  but  Charles  Klein  is  heavily  interested 
with  John  Cort  in  the  production  of  "The  Gamblers," 
and  also  in  the  newest  play  from  Mr.  Klein's  pen.  The 
profits  so  far  under  this  regime  known  as  the  Author's 
Producing  Company  have  been  unprecedentedly  large. 

The  lay  reader  can  hardly  imagine  the  prosperous 
state  of  the  truly  successful  play-author.  If  Charles 
Klein's  earnings  average  less  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  annually,  the  fact  will  surprise  those  who 
know  that  such  successes  as  "The  Music  Master," 
"The  Third  Degree,"  "The  Lion  and  the  Mouse,"  and 
"Maggie  Pepper,"  play  to  gross  receipts  ranging  from 
$8,000  to  $20,000  weekly,  and  Mr.  Klein  generally  has 
income  from  six  plays  simultaneously,  some  of  which 
have  as  many  as  four  organizations  appearing  in  them 
at  one  time. 

George  Broadhurst  probably  will  record  the  largest 
earnings  in  the  next  few  years,  particularly  if  his  pres- 
ent gait  is  maintained.  The  career  of  this  playwright 
is  one  of  constantly  increasing  fame  and  fortune.  "The 
Man  of  the  Hour"  had  as  many  as  four  companies 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  sor 

playing  on  tour  in  one  season,  and  "Bought  and  Paid 
For,"  an  even  greater  success,  is  likely  to  earn  for  its 
author  the  largest  annual  income  ever  recorded  in  the 
world's  history  for  a  playwright. 

Fortunate  indeed  is  the  author  whose  successes  are 
controlled  by  William  A.  Brady,  for  here  is  a  manager 
who  develops  the  plays.  Elsewhere  I  have  dwelt  on 
the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Brady  developed  "Over 
Night,"  into  an  overwhelming  success  and  expressing 
the  need  of  more  theatres  for  a  producer  such  as  he  is. 
I  learn,  however,  that  Mr.  Brady  himself  gives  credit 
to  Phillip  H.  Bartholomae,  author  of  "Over  Night," 
for  the  perseverance  in  this  instance.  Undoubtedly 
the  credit  belongs  to  both  gentlemen,  but  that  the 
tribute  does  fit  Mr.  Brady  is  evidenced  by  the  fate  of 
another  play  under  the  latter's  direction.  When 
"Mother,"  was  produced  at  the  Hackett  Theatre  the 
first  few  weeks,  interest  was  wholly  lacking,  but  Mr. 
Brady  became  attached  to  the  play — he  believed  in  it 
and  decided  it  should  have  a  long  run.  "Mother"  is 
still  potent,  and  yet  Mr.  Brady  does  not  force  plays  on 
the  public.  I  recall  that  the  play  presented  by  him 
just  preceding  "Bought  and  Paid  For"  was  taken  off 
after  a  few  performances  despite  that  the  management 
was  wholly  unprepared  for  the  disaster. 

Speaking  of  Mr.  Bartholomae,  this  young  author 
having  passed  through  all  of  the  vicissitudes  of  his 
calling,  feels  that  he  is  in  a  position  to  sympathize  with 
some  of  his  colleagues.  Therefore  he  realizes  that  the 
struggling  playwright  of  to-day  is  worthy  of  encour- 
agement. 

Mr.  Bartholomae  has  announced  that  he  will  read 
every  manuscript  sent  to  him  and  offer  advice  as  welL 


308 Cfte    ^tage    in    tfte 

Undoubtedly  this  procedure  will  result  in  uncovering 
much  good  material,  and  as  this  successful  author,  like 
Messrs.  Klein  and  Broadhurst,  is  inclined  to  activity 
as  a  producer,  the  significance  of  his  policy  becomes 
apparent. 

The  season  of  1912-13  will  be  notable  for  the  dedi- 
cation of  more  than  a  dozen  new  theatres  of  the  first 
grade  in  New  York  City.  This  does  not  take  account 
of  the  many  new  and  beautiful  auditoriums  being 
erected  for  the  presentation  of  photo-plays,  and  these 
latter  are  by  no  means  inferior. 

In  the  Long  Acre  district — the  heart  of  the  theatre 
zone — Al  H.  Woods  will  have  the  new  Julian  Eltinge 
Theatre  as  a  home  for  the  star  himself  and  for  the 
many  attractions  controlled  by  Mr.  Woods.  Not  far 
away  will  be  the  new  Cort  Theatre,  while  Mr.  Cort,  in 
conjunction  with  Oliver  Morosco  and  Edward  J. 
Bowes,  are  erecting  the  new  Illington  Theatre  on  West 
Forty-sixth  Street.  Wm.  A.  Brady  is  erecting  a  second 
playhouse  on  West  Forty-eighth  Street,  and  Martin 
Beck's  new  Palace  Theatre  at  Forty-seventh  Street 
and  Broadway  will  help  to  enliven  the  vaudeville  situa- 
tion. The  Messrs.  Shubert  are  also  erecting  a  new 
theatre  directly  opposite  Winthrop  Ames,  the  Little 
Theatre,  and  Messrs,  Shubert  and  Ames  are  jointly 
building  two  new  theatres  on  West  Forty-fourth  Street 
on  the  site  selected  for  the  new  New  Theatre,  the 
property  having  been  secured  from  the  founders,  who 
have  temporarily  abandoned  their  ennobling  enterprise. 
Then  there  is  to  be  May  Irwin's  new  theatre  also  on 
West  Forty-fourth  Street  between  the  Criterion  and 
Hudson  theatres. 

Practically  every  available  site  for  a  theatre  between 


LADY    GREGORY 


PRESTON    GIBSON 


LEGRAND  ROWLAND  ERNEST    CARTER 

Playwrights  and  Composers 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 309 

Forty-second  and  Fiftieth  Streets  within  one  block  of 
Broadway  on  either  side  has  been  disposed  of,  but 
the  end  is  not  yet.  The  movement  is  certain  to  extend 
further  uptown  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Century 
Theatre  will  in  due  course  become  the  new  theatre 
zone. 

Such  theatres  as  the  Garrick,  Herald  Square,  Daly's, 
Bijou,  Weber's  and  even  dear  old  Wallack's  have  all 
seemingly  been  passed  up  by  the  play-going  public — 
of  the  list  Wallack's  alone  has  held  its  own  due  to  the 
strength  of  the  attractions  such  as  "Pomander  Walk" 
and  "Disraeli,"  and  undoubtedly  the  reverence  for  the 
name  Wallack  may  serve  to  preserve  this  playhouse 
from  the  yawnings  of  the  camera  man  who  already 
has  added  besides  the  Savoy  and  Garden  theatres  to 
his  imposing  list,  the  Herald  Square  and  Webers* 
theatres,  thus,  after  all,  the  situation  adjusts  itself  for, 
if  the  new  theatres  are  offset  by  a  corresponding  ab- 
sorption of  first-class  playhouses  for  moving  pictures, 
perhaps  even  an  improved  condition  of  affairs  will  be 
recorded. 

One  cannot  ignore  the  advent  of  the  exclusively 
motion  picture  theatre  such  as  is  now  being  erected 
on  the  site  of  Mendelssohn  Hall,  and  now  comes  forth 
a  Mr.  Pichardo  with  plans  for  a  six  hundred  thousand- 
dollar  theatre  seating  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  per- 
sons devoted  solely  to  the  silent  drama  but  enhanced 
through  the  engagement  of  a  permanent  symphony 
orchestra  to  give  the  best  expression  to  the  high-grade 
film  to  be  shown  here.  This  new  theatre  is  to  be  called 
the  Palace  Theatre,  thus  making  three  new  playhouses 
with  that  name. 

Up  in  Montreal  where  I  can  recall  not  so  long  ago 


310  _  Cfte    %tage    in    tfre 

the  sheriff  used  to  collect  bills  from  theatrical  men  by 
serving  warrants  in  the  first  instance  to  save  time, 
and  where,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  there  was  not  a 
single  theatre  open  regularly,  there  now  are,  besides 
the  six  stationary  theatres  of  the  first  grade  about 
fifty  photo-play  houses  and  these  have  been  so  prosper- 
ous that  Mr.  Conover,  the  leader  of  the  film-world  in 
Canada,  who  made  a  fortune  with  his  nickel  theatres, 
is  now  erecting  the  finest  playhouse  in  the  dominion. 
The  cost  of  this  establishment  is  said  to  be  $300,000. 
Think  of  that,  and  in  Canada,  too,  and  yet  this  superb 
edifice  will  be  the  home  of  the  pictorial  drama. 

In  New  Orleans  a  Mr.  Fichtenberg  has  a  chain  of 
theatres  all  devoted  to  motion  pictures.  Here,  too,  a 
palatial  class  A  auditorium  is  being  erected  costing 
several  hundred  thousand  dollars  while  in  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  W.  P.  Ready,  erstwhile  real  estate  op- 
erator, began  to  build  motion  picture  theatres  two 
years  ago.  To-day  he  has  by  far  the  prettiest  theatre 
in  the  entire  state  of  Tennessee,  seating  sixteen  hun- 
dred persons  and  far  superior  in  every  way  to  the 
theatres  where  high  prices  prevail.  Can  anyone  won- 
der why  prosperity  prevails  in  the  film  industry,  when 
the  public  is  tempted  to  extend  its  patronage  by  large 
entertainments  at  absurdly  low  prices  in  theatres  of 
unsurpassable  beauty  where  the  utmost  attention  and 
courtesy  is  bestowed  at  all  times. 


On  June  2,  1912,  Liebler  &  Company  installed  in  the 
Century  Theatre  the  Wurlitzer  Unit  Orchestra,  the 
invention  of  Robert  Hope-Jones,  which  the  author  re- 


Ctoentietft    Centutg an 

fers  to  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  Mr.  Liebler  had 
heard  this  marvelous  instrument  at  Ocean  Grove,  N. 
J.,  and  later  in  advanced  condition  at  Buffalo,  and  he 
has  been  an  enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  "One  Man 
Orchestras'*  ever  since. 

Hereafter  the  Century  Theatre  will  dispense  with 
musicians  and  it  is  likely  that  before  the  season  of 
1912-13  is  far  advanced  that  this  wonderful  scientific 
creation  will  be  in  general  use.  Over  one  million  dol- 
lars in  contracts  are  now  in  the  process  of  fulfillment. 

The  big  production  at  The  Century  Theatre  next  fall, 
however,  "The  daughter  of  Heaven,"  will  have  another 
claim  to  the  interest  of  musical  people,  in  that  Mile. 
Judith  Gautier,  daughter  of  Theophile  Gautier,  herself 
a  musician  of  no  mean  ability,  being  largely  responsible 
for  the  introduction  of  Wagner  into  France,  is  at  work 
getting  together  bits  of  original  Chinese  music  for  this 
great  play  of  modern  China.  She  has  found  the  Im- 
perial March,  and  the  Court  Chant,  both  over  400  years 
old,  and  preserved  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  the  Chinese, 
and  a  march  written  by  the  late  Manchu  emperor. 

Mr.  Lee  Keedick  has  built  up  a  vast  industry  in  a 
field  of  which  little  is  known  even  by  the  average 
amusement  caterer. 

Mr.  Keedick's  work  is  on  an  entirely  different  scale 
from  the  ordinary  lyceum,  and  can  hardly  be  classified 
under  the  same  head,  for  the  reason  that  he  has  spec- 
ialized in  world-renowned  lecturers  only,  and  has  pre- 
sented them  under  such  auspices  that  for  single  lec- 
tures some  of  the  speakers  have  drawn  at  the  box-office 
as  high  as  three  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Keedick  manages  celebrated  figures  of  Europe 
almost  exclusively  and  spends  a  couple  of  months  each 


312  C&e&tage-fnt&e 

year  abroad  arranging  tours  for  the  next  season.  In 
the  management  of  these  tours  he  has  spared  no  ex- 
pense, providing  private  cars  for  his  speakers,  giving 
them  such  comforts  and  luxuries  as  only  a  prima  donna 
might  expect. 

Mr.  Keedick  has  made  it  a  rule  to  book  only  lecturers 
who  are  recognized  as  authorities  on  their  chosen  sub- 
jects. 

Among  the  most  noted  speakers  whose  time  he  has 
controlled  exclusively  might  be  mentioned  such  famous 
ones  as  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  Lieutenant-General  Sir 
Robert  Baden-Powell,  Alfred  Tennyson  Dickens,  the 
Countess  of  Warwick,  John  Mitchell,  the  great  labor 
leader,  and  A.  Radclyffe  Dugmore.  He  has  just  closed 
a  contract  with  Captain  Roald  Amundsen,  the  discov- 
erer of  the  South  Pole,  who  will  come  to  America 
under  his  exclusive  management.  Mr.  Keedick  has  ex- 
tended his  work  so  that  he  now  books  his  talent  either 
direct  or  through  agents  in  the  United  States,  Canada, 
England  and  Australia. 

The  writer  believes  that  through  Mr.  Keedick's  excel- 
lent policy  many  famous  singers  and  players  may  find 
opportunity  long  after  their  artistic  careers  have  ceased 
to  profit  them.  Ellen  Terry  proved  a  potent  lyceum 
star,  and  one  can  only  conjecture  as  to  the  sort  of 
attraction  Adelina  Patti  would  be  if  she  were  to  elect 
to  lecture  on  the  "Methods  of  Voice  Preservation,"  or 
on  how  she  managed  to  preserve  her  physical  self. 


On  May  1,  1911,  William  B.  Feakins,  who  had  been 
for  two  years  the  secretary  of  the  Civic  Forum  Lecture 


Ctoentietf)    Centutg  _  3ia 

Bureau,  took  over  the  interests  of  that  Bureau  and  is 
now  operating  in  his  own  name  as  its  successor.  Hav- 
ing had  such  noted  persons  as  Commander  Robert  E. 
Peary,  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  Miss  Ellen  Terry,  to 
manage,  his  name  became  widely  known  in  the  lecture 
field.  Most  of  his  work  has  been  along  the  lines  of 
sociology,  literature  and  ethics,  although  he  is  always 
interested  in  anyone  with  publicity  value,  if  they  are 
the  type  with  an  appeal  to  the  educated  classes. 

This  season  he  has  such  noted  persons  as  William 
Watson,  the  greatest  living  English  poet;  Mr.  Elith 
Reumert,  the  Royal  Danish  actor;  Beatrice  Forbes- 
Robertson,  who  lectures  on  the  drama,  with  illustrative 
readings  ;  Dr.  Yamei  Kin,  the  noted  Chinese  physician  ; 
Madame  Aimo  Malmberg,  the  distinguished  Finnish 
exile  ;  Rabbi  Stephen  S.  Wise,  of  the  New  Synagogue  ; 
Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson,  the  popular  medical  writer, 
and  many  other  well  known  and  interesting  people. 

He  says  that  his  best  agents  are  Uncle  Sam's  postage 
stamps,  most  of  his  business  being  booked  by  mail. 

He  does  very  little  of  the  regular  Lyceum  business, 
but  works  mostly  through  clubs,  teachers'  associations, 
and  special  organizations. 


In  November,  1911,  Joseph  Pulitzer  passed  away. 
This  sad  event  having  been  fully  chronicled  in  the 
press,  is  referred  to  here  because  of  the  deceased 
editor's  great  interest  in  every  phase  of  musical  prog- 
ress. Mr.  Pulitzer's  benefactions,  while  living,  were  al- 
ways characterized  by  that  lack  of  ostentation  so  often 
in  evidence  with  the  truly  great,  but  the  bequest  of 


3U CSe    g)tage    in    tfte 

$500,000  to  the  Philharmonic  Society,  notwithstand- 
ing the  conditions  under  which  it  has  been  bestowed, 
should  stand  out  as  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  good 
taste  and  discernment. 

That  a  single  individual  should  endow  even  so 
worthy  an  institution  as  the  Philharmonic  with  such 
a  prodigious  bequest,  amply  proves  the  part  played  in 
musical  progress  by  our  public-spirited  citizens.  The 
all-important  problem,  however,  is  the  manner  in 
which  this  money  is  to  be  utilized.  The  direction  of 
our  symphony  orchestras  has  not  been  an  easy  task 
and  what  the  Philharmonic  needs  even  more  than 
Mr.  Pulitzer's  financial  contribution  is  a  policy  sim- 
ilar to  that  observed  by  Henry  M.  Higginson  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Boston  Symphony  Orchestra — the 
Philharmonic  business  affairs  have  always  been  mud- 
dled and  at  this  time  there  is  no  indication  of  improved 
conditions. 

•$»•}••&• 

Our  wealthy  citizens  are  actively  co-operating  for 
musical  uplift  all  over  the  country.  The  general  pub- 
lic is  little  aware  of  the  amount  of  money  spent  by 
John  Wanamaker  annually  for  the  musical  education 
of  deserving  singers  and  musicians  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania.  Moreover,  there  have  been  several  in- 
stances where  proteges  of  Mr.  Wanamaker,  after  com- 
pleting their  studies,  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
impresarios,  through  the  success  achieved  by  them  at 
the  concerts  given  in  the  Wanamaker  stores. 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  315 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Since  the  issue  of  the  last  volume  Denman  Thomp- 
son has  passed  on. 

It  was  at  585  Broadway,  between  Houston  and 
Prince  Streets,  the  site  of  the  old  Theatre  Comique, 
where  I  first  saw  Denman  Thompson  in  the  character 
of  "Uncle  Joshua."  The  "Varieties"  of  that  day  (1872) 
was  by  no  means  as  refined  as  the  modern  vaudeville 
of  to-day,  and  the  sketch  used  as  a  frame  for  Thomp- 
son's quaint  portrayal  of  the  New  England  farmer  was 
as  racy  and  suggestive  as  the  title,  "The  Female  Bath- 
ers," would  indicate. 

Yet  the  wholesome  sentiment  expressed,  as  well  as 
the  human  qualities  of  the  character,  which  have  so 
endeared  play-goers  of  three  generations  to  the  de- 
ceased actor,  were  as  apparent  to  me,  despite  the  in- 
congruity of  the  environment,  while  to  the  audiences 
of  that  day  they  were  as  vivid  and  potent  in  this  primi- 
tive production  as  they  have  been  for  more  than  thirty- 
five  years  that  the  character  of  "Joshua  Whitcomb" 
availed  Thompson. 

To  this  day,  the  basic  situations  and  the  dialogue  of 
that  little  thirty  minute  sketch  have  been  retained  in 
every  stage  of  development,  though  the  "female  bath- 
ers" were  eliminated  a  very  few  years  after  the  pro- 
duction at  the  Theatre  Comique. 

In  a  full  three-act  play,  then  entitled  "Joshua  Whit- 
comb,"  Thompson's  portrayal  of  the  New  England 


316 Cfre    ^tage    in    t&e 

farmer  was  first  seen  at  the  New  York  Theatre  in 
1874.  This  establishment  had  been  the  home  of  the 
famous  Worrell  Sisters,  and  the  house  passed  through 
more  vicissitudes  than  any  play-house  within  the  mem- 
ory of  the  writer.  Its  last  use  was  as  "Ye  London 
Streete,"  and  until  very  recently  the  site  has  been  an 
eyesore  to  pedestrians  in  that  part  of  the  city.  For 
more  than  ten  years  it  stood  unfenced,  and  occasion- 
ally some  fistic  event  was  "pulled  off"  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  American  Athletic  Club.  At  this  theatre, 
Thompson  played  the  famous  character  for  several 
months  to  beggarly  patronage,  though  the  cast  could 
not  be  excelled,  if,  indeed,  it  has  ever  been  equalled  to 
this  day.  Julia  Wilson  was  the  "Tot,"  the  best  ever 
seen  in  the  part.  Albert  Klein,  a  brother  of  the  fam- 
ous playwright,  Charles  Klein,  was  the  Boot  Black, 
and  none  who  were  permitted  to  witness  his  rendition 
of  this  role  will  ever  forget  the  artistry  and  human 
vitality  with  which  he  invested  it.  Walter  Gale  was 
the  Tramp,  "Happy  Jack,"  and  he  played  the  part  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  Gale  was  very  close  to  the  dead 
actor,  the  two  being  inseparable  until,  for  some  reason 
unexplained,  they  parted  company.  Gale  was  one  of 
the  pall  bearers  at  the  funeral,  at  Swanzey,  and  his 
presence  there  must  have  been  as  impressive  as  it  was 
appropriate.  George  Beane  was  the  "Cy  Prime";  the 
rest  of  the  roles  were  in  the  hands  of  what  may  be 
called  untheatrical  persons,  who  were  selected  because 
of  their  fitness  to  the  types  portrayed.  That  they 
qualified  is  best  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the  cast  at 
the  time  of  Thompson's  death  were  several  members 
of  the  original  production,  including  Gus  Kammerlee 
and  Mrs.  Van  Dusen. 


JACOB    LITT 

(In    Memoriam) 


JACOB  WENDELL,  JR. 
(In    Memoriam) 


HEINRICH   CONREID 

(In  Memoriam) 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 317 

Thompson  himself  was  not  born  in  Swanzey,  N.  H., 
but  his  father  was,  and  the  Thompson  homestead  in 
the  New  England  village  provided  the  frame  and  set- 
ting for  the  play,  while  all  of  the  characters  were  taken 
from  real  life,  from  amongst  the  members  of  the  dead 
actor's  family  and  his  acquaintances,  thereabouts. 

Denman  Thompson  was  born  in  Pennsylvania;  his 
early  life  was  full  of  the  struggles  and  vicissitudes 
which  had  to  be  endured  by  the  thespians  of  that  day. 
As  a  young  man,  he  went  to  Canada,  and  for  more 
than  ten  years  he  was  a  stock  actor  in  Toronto,  where 
he  accumulated  a  vast  experience,  not  dreaming  that 
he  was  destined  to  play  one  character  for  more  than 
thirty-five  years,  a  record  unapproached  by  any  player 
in  the  world's  history. 

Prosperity  did  not  come  quickly  to  Thompson. 
When  it  did  come,  strange  to  say,  it  came  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  expert  showmanship  of  James  M.  Hill,  a 
Chicago  merchant,  who  had  the  foresight  to  see  the 
tremendous  worth  of  Thompson's  artistic  and  truthful 
rendition  of  a  wholesome  character.  Hill  entered  upon 
the  scene  wholly  untrained  for  theatrical  management, 
but  he  understood  human  nature,  and  he  was  prepared 
to  lose  $100,000  if  necessary  in  an  effort  to  make  the 
public  understand  the  merits  of  his  attraction. 

Hill  did  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  "advertise  like  a 
circus,"  nor  did  he  use  any  adjectives  in  his  announce- 
ments. His  ideas  were  best  conveyed  by  his  expres- 
sion to  the  writer  at  the  time: 

"I  have  got  the  goods,  and  I  am  going  to  sit  down 
and  wait  till  the  public  finds  it  out,  if  it  takes  a  year." 

Only  one  night  stands  were  visited,  and  business  was 
not  large.  Then  Hill  decided  to  stop  two  nights  in 


318 C6e    ^tage    in    tiie 

each  city.  Here  he  noticed  that  the  second  night  al- 
ways recorded  an  increase  in  the  box  office  receipts. 
Then  Hill  took  his  star  to  Cleveland  for  a  week.  The 
opening  night  saw  a  theatre  one-third  full,  but  enthu- 
siasm was  at  a  high  rate,  the  press  notices  were  eulo- 
gistic, the  comments  in  the  lobby  (Hill  was  wont  to 
listen  to  these  intently),  were  unanimously  favorable, 
and  to  the  merchant  manager's  delight,  the  business 
increased  each  night  until  Friday  evening  the  capacity 
of  the  Euclid  Avenue  opera  house  was  tested. 

Hill,  now  convinced  of  the  tenability  of  his  position, 
began  his  real  campaign.  "I  am  going  to  New  York 
to  get  a  theatre  for  one  year,  and  I  shall  put  this  whole- 
some play  on  the  stage  and  wait  until  the  public  is 
attracted." 

He  leased  the  Fourteenth  Street  Theatre,  announced 
his  play  and  star  in  the  most  modest  manner.  The 
audiences  the  first  week  were  so  small  that  Hill's 
friends  and  his  colleagues  of  the  theatrical  profession 
foresaw  disaster,  but  the  intrepid  Yankee  showman 
busied  himself  with  counting  the  heads  of  the  small 
audiences,  and  listening  to  their  comments  as  they 
passed  out  of  the  playhouse.  He  observed  that  there 
was  a  very  slight  increase  each  night,  and  that  the 
praise  was  unanimous. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  week  the  box  office  recorded 
a  very  slight  margin  of  profit,  and  to  Hill's  delight  the 
advance  sale  was  steady.  People  were  finding  their 
way  to  the  theatre,  long  noted  for  its  disastrous  career. 

On  the  fourth  Sunday,  and  preceding  the  commence- 
ment of  the  fourth  week  of  the  engagement,  Hill  re- 
served an  entire  page  in  every  Sunday  newspaper  in 
(New  York,  but  the  advertisement  absorbed  less  than 


Ctoentietb    Centurp  319 

three  inches  of  space  (all  the  rest  of  the  page  being 
blank)  and  read  as  follows : 

Denman  Thompson 

as 
Joshua  Whitcomb 

is  at  the 
Fourteenth  Street  Theatre. 

That  was  all,  but  it  was  enough.  The  public  began 
to  flock  to  the  theatre ;  seats  were  bought  weeks  in  ad- 
vance, and  then  the  New  York  Herald  came  out  with 
a  half  page  of  eulogy  of  the  performance,  praising 
Denman  Thompson  and  the  play  in  unmeasured  terms. 
The  Herald  was  called  upon  to  publish  many  letters 
from  the  heads  of  families  thanking  its  editor  for  hav- 
ing so  effectively  called  their  attention  to  a  worthy 
stage  offering. 

The  run  of  "The  Old  Homestead"  at  the  Fourteenth 
Street  Theatre  lasted  all  of  one  year  and  a  part  of  an- 
other. Then  the  star  and  play  went  on  tour,  carrying 
everything  before  them  for  a  long  period. 

"The  Old  Homestead"  was  written  by  Denman 
Thompson  and  George  Ryer.  It  really  was  much  the 
same  in  nearly  every  particular  as  the  original  pro- 
duction, save  that  it  gave  opportunity  for  scenic  em- 
bellishment and  a  more  elaborate  musical  setting,  but 
the  character  of  "Uncle  Josh"  and  all  of  the  other  be- 
loved creations  of  the  older  play  were  practically  un- 
changed. But  the  fame  of  Thompson  and  the  whole- 
some play  became  so  pronounced  that  the  public  was 
attracted  from  "the  woods"  to  an  extent  never  before 
heard  of.  Thousands  of  country  folk,  to  whom  the  in- 


320  Cftc@>tageintl)e 

side  of  a  theatre  was  an  unknown  luxury,  saved  up 
their  pennies  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  see  "the  play 
of  a  century."  Conditions  were  like  this  when  Gil- 
more  and  Tompkins  arranged  to  produce  the  play  at 
the  Academy  of  Music,  where  it  ran  the  better  part 
of  each  year  for  three  consecutive  seasons.  The  firm 
publicly  stated  that  their  profits  from  this  one  play 
alone  sufficed  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  purchase  of  the 
big  Academy  of  Music  property. 

It  is  estimated  that  ten  million  persons  have  seen 
Thompson's  portrayal  of  "Uncle  Josh."  The  play 
was  often  presented  by  two  or  three  companies  simul- 
taneously. Thompson  himself  played  the  part  more 
than  ten  thousand  times,  though  in  recent  years  he 
was  so  enfeebled  that  his  appearances  became  in- 
termittent, and  often  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  home- 
stead at  Swanzey  and  leave  the  portrayal  of  the  great 
character  to  his  understudy. 

In  1910,  greatly  through  sentiment  and  partly 
through  a  desire  to  avail  himself  of  the  lesser  labor, 
Thompson  accepted  a  ten  weeks'  engagement  at 
$2,500  a  week  in  the  vaudeville  houses,  when  the 
old  sketch  "Joshua  Whitcomb,"  was  presented  al- 
most identically  as  it  was  thirty-five  years  ago,  but 
in  the  Spring  of  the  same  year  the  demand  for  "The 
Old  Homestead"  became  so  persistent  that  the  ven- 
erable player  was  induced  to  inaugurate  a  lengthy 
tour.  It  was  during  this  time  that  he  made  his  last 
appearance  in  New  York  at  the  New  City  Theatre, 
and  the  star  and  play  were  yet  so  potent  that  the 
largest  engagement  of  the  season  at  that  theatre  was 
recorded. 

The   impression    that    Denman    Thompson   was    a 


Ctoentietj)    Centurg  _  321 

wealthy  man  is  but  natural,  but  it  is  not  likely  that 
he  left  a  very  large  fortune.  He  was  very  liberal,  and 
his  philanthropy  was  of  that  character  which  is  rarely 
given  publicity.  He  gave  unostentatiously,  and  the 
calls  on  him  were  persistent.  Unfortunate  members 
of  his  profession  will  have  much  reason  to  regret  his 
demise,  for  to  them  he  gave  with  so  generous  a  hand 
that  efforts  were  often  made  to  protect  him  from  im- 
postors, but  he  used  to  say,  "The  poor  devils  have  to 
live,  and  why  should  I  judge  them?" 

His  body  lies  in  the  little  cemetery  opposite  the 
old  homestead  which  provided  the  frame  and  setting 
for  his  wonderfully  successful  play.  He  will  be 
mourned  by  hundreds  of  thousands  who  were  en- 
deared to  him  because  he  gave  them  a  chance  to 
breathe  in  an  atmosphere  pure  and  wholesome.  He 
portrayed  in  a  wholly  human  way  a  character  so 
honest  and  lovable  that  the  desire  to  pay  tribute  to 
his  memory  is  likely  to  be  prolonged  for  years  to 
come. 


Henry  Lee,  for  years  one  of  the  best  known  char- 
acter actors  on  the  American  stage,  died  in  a  hospital 
in  Chicago  on  November  9,  1910,  of  pneumonia.  He 
had  been  appearing  in  vaudeville  for  several  years, 
giving  a  sketch  called  Great  Men,  Past  and  Present, 
in  which  he  impersonated  a  number  of  prominent 
persons.  His  stage  career  dates  from  the  early  sev- 
enties, when,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  made  his  pro- 
fessional debut  at  Wood's  Museum,  now  Daly's 
Theatre,  in  New  York.  He  appeared  with  traveling 


322 CSe   ^tage    in    tfte 

companies  and  with  many  stock  organizations,  includ- 
ing Wallack's,  in  New  York;  McVicker's,  in  Chicago, 
and  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia.  He 
went  to  London  with  McKee  Rankin  and  also  sup- 
ported Fanny  Davenport  two  seasons.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Mrs.  James  Brown  Potter's  company  during  her 
early  tours  in  this  country,  and  was  also  at  the  head  of 
his  own  company  as  a  star.  He  played  in  Monte  Carlo 
with  James  O'Neil,  and  also  starred  in  that  play  in  Eng- 
land. In  1895  he  went  to  South  Africa,  where  he  was  in- 
terested in  the  mines  and  became  wealthy,  only  to  lose 
his  fortune  in  the  Jamison  raid.  He  began  his  stage 
life  over  again,  first  in  London,  and  later  coming  back 
to  the  United  States.  He  has  appeared  in  a  number 
of  Frohman  productions,  and  was  the  original 
Simonides  in  Klaw  and  Erlanger's  Ben-Hur.  His 
home  was  in  New  York  City.  He  was  born  in  1857. 
The  death  of  Henry  Lee  was  not  accorded  the  promi- 
nence in  the  public  press  that  would  have  been  meted 
out  to  him  a  generation  ago.  Perhaps  this  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  his  achievements  were  little  known  to 
modern  writers,  but  for  all  that  the  news  came  as  a 
shock  in  the  circles  in  which  he  was  once  a  conspicu- 
ous figure.  The  greatest  misfortune  that  ever  befell 
Lee  was  the  success  which  he  achieved  in  London  in 
the  music  halls  in  the  specialty  which  ever  after  he 
was  enabled  to  conjure  with.  "Great  Men,  Past  and 
Present,"  was  his  undoing.  Lee  tried  hard,  too,  to 
regain  the  place  he  had  made  for  himself  on  the  legiti- 
mate stage,  but  he  was  regarded  as  a  vaudevillian,  and 
this  is  one  instance  where  vaudeville  really  did  retard 
a  career.  The  efforts  which  this  man  made  to  "come 
back"  were  truly  of  a  herculean  order.  Once,  and 


Ctoentieti)    Centurg 323 

once  only,  was  he  able  to  obtain  a  hearing  on  Broad- 
way, and  that  was  in  Ben-Hur.  Mr.  Erlanger  knew 
Lee's  qualities  and  engaged  him  for  the  role  of 
Simonides.  Lee  would  save  up  his  vaudeville  earn- 
ings until  he  had  accumulated  a  few  thousands  dollars 
and  then  he  would  embark  in  some  enterprise  which 
would  permit  him  to  shine  as  a  dramatic  star.  In  this 
manner  he  was  able  to  produce  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  in 
the  title-role  of  which  he  was  more  than  favorably 
compared  with  the  late  Richard  Mansfield;  but  after 
a  few  weeks  of  unimportant  Western  territory  "Great 
Men"  was  revived  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door. 
Henry  Lee  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  greatest 
character  actors  on  the  stage.  Even  the  vaudeville 
managers  frowned  on  his  ambitions,  and  when  he 
sought  bookings  in  a  playlet  they  were  refused  him, 
for  the  managers  contended  that  he  was  a  specialist. 
"Great  Men,"  or  nothing,  was  their  ultimatum,  and  it 
broke  Lee's  heart.  In  these  days,  when  players  are 
made  in  a  night,  such  training  as  Lee  received  is,  of 
course,  unobtainable.  He  was  a  member  of  the  superb 
stock  company  in  Wood's  Museum  (where  Daly's 
Theatre  stands  to-day,  and  very  little  changed  at  that), 
which  included  such  sterling  actors  as  Thomas  W. 
Keene  and  Louis  Aldrich,  and  here  he  played  two 
performances  daily,  interpreting  a  different  role  every 
week,  and  often  a  half  dozen  widely  different  char- 
acters in  the  same  period.  It  was  in  "The  Stranglers 
of  Paris"  that  Lee  first  scored  to  an  extent  that  stellar 
honors  were  accorded  him.  Unfortunately,  he  was  a 
very  poor  business  man.  His  procedure,  as  a  rule, 
was  decidedly  ill  advised.  A  little  over  a  decade  ago 
he  went  to  London,  where  he  was  always  highly  re- 


324  _  Cfte    S>tage    in    tfte 

garded.  It  was  there  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
the  vaudeville  specialty.  To  the  writer  Lee  had  al- 
ways expressed  himself  as  deploring  the  vogue  which 
this  effort  brought  him.  I  have  been  with  him  when 
he  would  send  a  message  to  some  manager  offering  to 
cancel  all  his  vaudeville  engagements,  which  at  the 
time  brought  him  a  weekly  provision  of  $500,  if  he 
could  get  one-fifth  of  this  sum  to  originate  some  new 
role  on  Broadway.  But  it  was  not  to  be.  In  the  last 
two  years  the  vicissitudes  and  experiences  which  Lee 
had  gone  through  were  simply  unbearable  to  a  man 
of  his  make-up.  In  his  efforts  to  lift  himself  out  of 
the  rut  he  became  so  involved  that  even  his  "plant," 
by  which  he  could  earn  his  vaudeville  salary,  was 
hypothecated.  His  position  was  truly  desperate.  Finally 
this  fine  artist  was  forced  to  make  a  tour  of  second 
rate  vaudeville  theatres  at  a  reduced  salary,  and  this 
was  the  last  engagement  of  his  long  and  remarkable 
career.  Henry  Lee  had  a  heart  so  big  that  the  tears 
would  come  to  his  eyes  at  the  mention  of  distress  of 
a  friend.  He  gave  away  his  money  in  hard  times  as 
readily  as  in  his  palmy  days.  To  those  who  knew  him 
well  the  struggle  Lee  made  to  keep  up  his  outward 
appearance  and  to  stave  off  the  gradually  evident  signs 
of  adversity  was  simply  heartrending.  He  was  not 
without  his  faults,  but  from  these  he  alone  suffered. 
With  his  demise  the  stage  has  lost  a  great  actor  —  far 
greater  than,  perhaps,  posterity  will  record. 


Edward  Harrigan  passed  away  in  1911.     His  popu- 
larity with  New  York  theatregoers  was  of  such  an 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 325 

enduring  character  that  he  was  a  potent  attraction  for 
many  years  after  he  had  ceased  to  provide  compelling 
stage  material  with  which  he  was  wont  to  conjure  and 
which  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  came  from  him 
seemingly  without  effort. 

Ned  Harrigan  resented  with  all  his  might  the  en- 
croachment of  modernism  and  he  refused  until  his 
finances  had  become  in  a  depleted  state,  to  bow  to 
the  new  conditions  prevailing.  He  never  wrote  any- 
thing after  "Reilly  and  the  400"  that  availed  him,  and 
his  losses  after  he  separated  from  Tony  Hart  were  so 
large  that  only  the  precaution  used  by  Mrs.  Harri- 
gan served  to  save  the  theatre  he  had  erected  with  the 
profits  of  his  most  popular  plays.  This  theatre,  now 
known  as  the  Garrick  Theatre,  has  brought  an  annual 
rental  in  excess  of  $20,000  ever  since  he  leased  it  to 
Richard  Mansfield. 

But  Harrigan  had  always  up  to  the  last  been  in  de- 
mand, and  up  to  about  two  years  ago  he  was  never 
without  an  engagement.  Twelve  hundred  dollars  a 
week  was  paid  to  him  by  the  Modern  Vaudeville 
Managers  to  appear  in  a  sketch,  and  he  never  faced 
an  audience  in  those  engagements  that  did  not  tender 
him  an  ovation.  In  fact,  Ed.  Harrigan  usually  was 
forced  to  make  a  speech  every  night  he  appeared. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  Harrigan  was  wholly  un- 
able to  prepare  new  plays  in  his  later  years,  but  his 
popularity  was  so  tremendous  that  not  only  he  him- 
self was  a  drawing  card  under  any  and  all  circum- 
stances, but  all  of  the  favorites  of  his  "Mulligan"  days 
prospered  ever  after,  such  as  Annie  and  Jenny  Yea- 
mans,  John  Wild,  Dan  Collyer,  Ada  Lewis,  John 
Sparks  and  Harry  Fisher,  while  Tony  Hart  was  simply 


326 Cbe   g)tage   in    tfte 

idolized  to  the  day  of  his  death;  but,  alas,  poor  Tony, 
like  Ned  himself,  after  they  separated,  was  absolutely 
unable  to  find  any  potent  vehicle  with  which  to  score, 
but  it  mattered  not  what  they  had  to  offer,  the  favor- 
ites of  the  old  Harrigan  and  Hart  regime  at  dear  old 
"514"  Broadway  had  endeared  themselves  for  all  time 
with  their  public. 

I  recall  how  Harrigan,  flushed  with  the  great  suc- 
cess of  his  series  of  local  plays,  became  ambitious 
to  evolve  a  serious  drama.  He  had  just  been  burned 
out  at  "514"  Broadway,  and  as  a  stop  gap  leased  the 
old  New  York  Theatre  (728-730  Broadway)  where  for 
thirty  years  every  manager  "came  a  cropper"  until  the 
house  actually  became  known  as  the  "Jonah  theatre." 
Here  it  was  that  Harrigan  produced  "The  Black  Bird," 
with  DeWolf  Hopper  in  a  serious  role.  This  was  be- 
fore the  day  of  Hopper's  comic  opera  vogue,  but  the 
play  was  a  failure — though  Hopper  had  scored  a  hit. 

The  biggest  hit  Harrigan  ever  evolved  was  "Squatter 
Sovereignty,"  though  the  author-actor  himself  did  not 
recognize  this  fact,  and  his  favorite  roles  were  "Pete" 
and  "Old  Lavender." 

"I  found  out  what  the  public  wants  long  ago,"  said 
Ned  to  this  writer.  "They  want  to  cry  a  little  and 
laugh  a  little — give  them  sixty  per  cent  fun,  twenty 
per  cent  pathos  and  twenty  per  cent  melody  and  the 
world  is  yours." 

The  recipe  is  given  here  for  what  it  should  be  worth 
— for  while  Harrigan  could  not  keep  up  to  the  mod- 
ern demand,  his  method  and  execution  might  well  be 
emulated  by  the  playwright  of  to-day,  and  even  of 
to-morrow. 

Harrigan  went  to  the  Five  Points  and  the  Ghetto 


Ctoenttetj)    Centutp 327 

district  to  find  his  type?,  and  he  was  wont  to  "stake" 
the  original  of  any  of  his  characters,  provide  them 
with  a  temporary  home  where  their  characteristics 
could  be  studied  and  idealized,  not  only  by  himself 
but  by  those  whom  Harrigan  had  engaged  to  portray 
the  roles. 

Nothing  in  the  way  of  stage  management  that  I 
have  ever  been  called  upon  to  observe  impressed  me  so 
much  as  Harrigan's  staging  of  the  famous  "Babies  on 
Our  Block."  It  was  merely  one  of  Dave  Braham's 
plaintive  melodies,  but  the  "business"  introduced  by 
what  was  supposed  to  be  supernumeraries  was  so 
artistic  and  so  realistic  that  the  ditty  became  the  talk 
of  the  town. 

"They  are  passing  on  now  with  no  little  impetus — 
Denman  Thompson  to-day,  William  S.  Gilbert  to- 
morrow and  Ned  Harrigan  the  next  day,"  was  the  way 
a  friend  put  it  to  me  the  other  day — but,  however  the 
order  of  their  going,  the  world  will  never  look  upon 
their  like  again.  We  progress  in  much,  but  one  may 
not  be  regarded  as  a  pessimist  if  he  asserts  that  the 
great  figures  of  the  stage  calling  of  yesterday  are  not 
likely  to  be  replaced. 

.§,    *    * 

The  revival  of  "H.  M.  S.  Pinafore"  has  once  mor* 
shown  us  the  inartistic  and  often  inefficient  calibre  of 
the  all-star  cast;  and,  after  all,  who  shall  say  that  the 
casts  given  Pinafore  a  generation  ago  were  not  su- 
perior, even  in  the  name  phase  of  the  subject?  The 
Boston  Ideal  Opera  Company  and  the  Haverly-Davis 
Church  Choir  Company  gave  renditions  of  Pinafore 


328  C6e    Stage    in    tfte 

wholly  beyond  the  achievement  of  to-day's  all-star 
cast. 

Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  was  the  "Buttercup"  in  the 
Haverly  organization.  Please,  may  I  ask,  where  in  all 
America  can  we  find  a  Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  to-day? 
Not  speaking  of  her  Buttercup  particularly,  superb  as 
it  was,  but  have  we  to-day  an  artist  of  her  calibre  in 
the  operatic  field  whose  songs  are  such  that  she  can 
run  the  whole  gamut  from  grand  opera  to  "Butter- 
cup?" 

I  shall  never  forget  the  "Faust"  in  which  Patti  had 
Mrs.  Davis  for  her  colleague  as  Siebel,  but  it  was  her 
career  in  "The  Bostonians"  that  will  cause  the  fame 
of  Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  to  endure  for  all  time.  It  is 
a  question  if  any  one  song  is  more  popular  to-day 
than  "Oh,  Promise  Me,"  which  she  interpolated  in  the 
score  of  "Robin  Hood." 

Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  was  distinctly  an  artist  of  ex- 
treme temperament  and  this  gave  her  a  magnetic  influ- 
ence with  her  audiences,  not  only  in  voice,  but  in  ap- 
pearance and  in  action. 

Unlike  most  American  singers,  she  wisely  concluded 
to  cut  out  the  craze  for  honors  in  Italian  opera,  and 
confined  her  career,  except  one  season  with  Adelina 
Patti,  to  English  opera,  both  grand,  sentimental  and 
comic.  It  will  be  remembered  that  she  was  equally 
as  successful  as  Azucena  in  "II  Trovatore"  as  she  was 
as  Fatinitza,  the  queen  in  "The  Bohemian  Girl,"  or  as 
Alan-a-Dale  in  "Robin  Hood,"  or  Carmen  in  the  opera 
of  that  name,  as  Little  Buttercup  in  "Pinafore." 

In  private  life  she  was  the  most  considerate  and  ten- 
der of  mothers  and  the  most  generous  of  friends.  Her 
death  was  untimely.  She  sleeps  in  Oakwood  Cemetery, 


Ctocntietf)    Centura  329 

Chicago,  and  on  the  monument  of  granite  that  marks 
her  resting-place  is  inscribed  a  quatrain  of  a  verse  of 
"Oh,  Promise  Me"  that  was  never  used  in  the  song: 
"Come  to  me,  sometime,  from  that  distant  shore, 
"Caress  and  comfort  me  as  in  days  of  yore, 
"Triumphant  over  death  our  love  shall  be, 
"Oh,  promise  me!     Oh,  promise  me!" 
Jessie  Bartlett  Davis  bore  two  children,  boys,  one 
of  whom  died  in  infancy.    The  other,  Will  J.  Davis, 
Jr.,  is  in  the  theatrical  business  in  Chicago,  is  the  father 
of  a  Will  J.  Davis  the  third,  and  a  daughter  named 
Jessie  Bartlett  Davis,  who  very  greatly  resembles  her 
talented  grandmother. 

The  career  of  William  J.  Davis  provides  so  much 
interesting  data  anent  theatrical  history  that  its  re- 
cital here  has  a  double  value. 


The  late  Julian  Edwards  was  born  in  Manchester, 
England,  on  December  17,  1855.  He  studied  music 
under  Sir  Herbert  Oakley,  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh and  later  under  Sir  George  Macfarren,  an  emi- 
nent authority  on  harmony.  In  1875  he  joined  the  Carl 
Rosa  Company  as  Maestro  al  piano,  where  he  gained 
considerable  experience.  He  became  conductor  of  the 
Royal  English  Opera  Company  in  1880,  and  held  that 
position  for  more  than  five  years.  During  this  time, 
his  first  opera,  "Victorian,"  was  composed,  and  was 
first  produced  at  Sheffield  on  March  6,  1883. 

It  was  favorably  received  in  all  the  principal  cities 
of  England,  including  London,  where  it  was  played  at 
Covent  Garden,  in  January,  1884,  under  Mr.  Edward's 
direction.  In  July,  1888,  Mr.  Edwards  came  to  New 


330 C6e    g)tage    in    tfte 

York  as  conductor  to  the  J.  C.  Duff  Opera  Company. 
He  was  associated  with  that  company  for  several 
years.  On  April  14,  1892,  his  first  comic  opera  was 
produced  by  the  Digby  Bell  Opera  Company,  in  Balti- 
more. "Friend  Fritz,"  a  musical  comedy,  adapted  by 
Stanislaus  Stange,  from  Erckman-Chatrian's  "L'Ami 
Fritz,"  was  presented  by  the  Manola-Mason  Company 
at  Herrmann's  Theatre,  on  January  26,  1893. 

On  November  22  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Edwards 
returned  to  the  higher  form  of  serious  opera,  and 
"King  Rene's  Daughter,"  adapted  by  the  composer 
himself,  from  Henrik  Hertz's  play,  was  produced  at 
Herrmann's  Theatre,  which  work  at  once  established 
his  fame  as  a  composer  of  merit.  Then  followed : 

Madeleine,  or  the  Magic  Kiss July  31,  1894 

The  Goddess  of  Truth February,  1896 

Brian  Boru October  12,  1896 

The  Wedding  Day April  8,  1897 

The  Jolly  Musketeer September  25,  1898 

The  Princess  Chic December  31,  1899 

Dolly  Varden December  23,  1901 

When  Johnny  Comes  Marching  Home   October  6,  1902 

Love's  Lottery September  12,  1904 

His  Honor  the  Mayor October  16,  1905 

The  Girl  and  the  Governor October  8,  1906 

The  Belle  of  London  Town November  19,  1906 

The  Gay  Musician April  29,  1908 

The  Motor  Girl June  10,  1909 

The  Girl  and  the  Wizard September  4,  1909 

Miss  Molly  May December  6,  1909 

Mr.  Edwards  wrote  music  for  several  plays,  namely : 
"The  Wooing  of  Priscilla,"  "King  Robert  of  Sicily," 
"The  Cipher  Code,"  "In  a  Balcony,"  "The  Land  of 


Ctocntietft    Centutg  _  331 

Heart's  Desire,"  "In  the  Palace  of  the  King,"  "A 
Gentleman  of  France,"  "Quo  Vadis,"  "Gringoire,"  etc. 

He  also  wrote  a  short,  one-act  grand  opera,  on  an 
American  theme,  called  "The  Patriot." 

Mr.  Edwards'  last  appearance  in  public  was  on 
April  3,  1910,  when  he  conducted  his  oratorio,  "Laz- 
arus," the  first  American  oratorio  ever  given  at  a  Sun- 
day night  concert  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House. 

His  sacred  cantata,  "The  Redeemer,"  is  well  known 
and  is  frequently  sung;  also  his  cantata,  "The  Mer- 
maid." 

He  has  left  several  works  in  manuscript,  notably  a 
grand  opera,  "Elfinella,"  an  opera  comique,  "The 
Honeymoon,"  and  an  oratorio,  "Mary  Magdalen," 
which  is  incomplete,  besides  songs,  orchestral  pieces, 
and  a  quintette  for  piano  and  strings,  etc. 

He  was  married  in  New  York,  on  January  9,  1889, 
to  Miss  Philippine  Siedle,  a  soprano,  who  created  the 
role  of  "Preciosa"  in  his  opera,  "Victorian,"  when  it 
was  produced  in  1883,  in  Sheffield,  England.  She  re- 
tired from  the  stage  after  her  marriage  and  devoted 
herself  entirely  to  assisting  Mr.  Julian  Edwards  in  his 
work. 

Their  ideal  life  together,  was  abruptly  terminated 
by  his  death  on  September  5,  1910. 


FROM  THE  SPEAKING  STAGE  TO  THE 

SILENT  DRAMA 

Interest  in  the  silent  drama  has  been  so  increased  in 
the  last  two  years  that  the  writer  has  deemed  it  an 
obligation  on  his  part  to  enlighten  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  the  speaking  stage  as  to  the  opportunity 


832 Cfte   ^tage    in    tfte 

which  now  awaits  them  in  the  vast  industry  that  is 
now  really  an  important  factor  in  the  general  theat- 
rical scheme. 

No  better  method  could  obtain  than  to  seek  out  some 
player  whose  experience  on  the  speaking  stage  has  en- 
abled her  to  conjure  in  the  newer  field,  and  with  this 
object  in  mind,  the  writer  has  asked  Miss  Florence  E. 
Turner,  better  known  in  the  film  world  as  "The  Vita- 
graph  Girl,"  to  impart  to  the  readers  of  this  volume  her 
experience,  particularly  that  portion  having  to  do  with 
moving-picture  plays. 

Miss  Turner's  success  before  the  camera  has  been 
so  great  that  the  Vitagraph  Company,  despairing  of 
her  health  conditions,  sent  her  out  to  California  in 
order  that  she  might  become  fully  restored  before  re- 
suming her  sway  in  picturedom,  and  it  was  at  Topanga 
Canyon,  Cal.,  that  the  queen  of  the  film  world  was 
located  and  where  in  her  convalescence  she  prepared 
the  following: 

Ever  since  I  can  remember  the  stage  has  always 
held  a  tremendous  attraction  for  me.  Having  come  of 
a  theatrical  family,  possibly  this  is  not  surprising,  for 
my  grandmother  and  mother,  in  their  day,  played  with 
such  stars  as  Booth,  Barrett,  McCullough,  Maggie 
Mitchell,  Lotta,  Clara  Morris,  Salvini,  Mary  Anderson 
and  others.  My  father  was  an  artist  in  oils  of  no 
small  ability,  and  the  best  amateur  actor  of  his  class 
at  Yale. 

When  first  old  enough  to  walk  and  speak,  my  great- 
est pastime  was  to  line  my  dolls  in  a  row,  pretending 
them  to  be  the  audience,  and  "act  to  them."  And  how 
I  did  act!  Tragic  and  pathetic  scenes  were  worked 
up  in  fine  dramatic  style.  I'd  weep  real  tears  until 


Ctoentietft    Centutp  333 

my  small  nose  was  a  wonderful  shade  of  crimson, 
and  I  was  quite  wrought  up  with  emotional  "acting," 
and  sore  all  over  from  my  repeated  falls  and  "faints" 
during  the  progress  of  the  scenes.  For  true  to  the 
prevailing  method  of  playing  in  those  times,  I  could 
not  conceive  of  any  heroine  who  did  not  "faint"  every 
minute,  suffer  untold  agony  through  the  three  acts, 
and  die  in  horrible  torture  in  the  fourth. 

But  it  was  at  the  tender  age  of  three  that  I  was 
destined  to  make  my  debut  upon  the  real  stage.  And 
such  a  debut !  My  grandmother  and  mother  were  then 
playing  in  "The  Romany  Rye,"  a  very  popular  success 
in  those  days.  A  number  of  children  was  used  in  the 
production,  and  the  manager,  having  heard  of  my 
budding  histrionic  aspirations,  suggested  that  I  appear. 
It  was  finally  arranged.  During  the  day  I'd  been  care- 
fully drilled,  told  to  stand  in  line  with  the  other 
children,  do  the  "business"  as  they  did  it,  and  then 
exit.  I  solemnly  declared  myself  equal  to  the  won- 
derful occasion.  The  great  night  came.  All  the 
children  were  provided  with  kitchen  utensils — their 
"props"  for  the  scene,  and  I  being  the  smallest  child 
of  all,  had  an  enormous  dishpan  which  almost  con- 
cealed my  small  person  from  view  when  held  be- 
fore me.  We  all  waited  solemnly  in  the  entrance 
until  the  manager  uttered  the  magic  word  "Go!" — and 
"on"  we  went,  myself  in  the  lead.  I  had  on  new  shoes 
which  squeaked  gorgeously,  as  I  nobly  trotted  down  to 
the  place  assigned  me,  and  waited.  The  leading  man 
entered,  paused,  waiting  for  the  "hand"  to  greet  him, 
when  I  suddenly  spied  my  grandmother  on  the  stage 
and,  walking  away  from  the  line  of  children,  gravely 
went  squeak!  squeak!  squeak!  all  the  way  down  to 


334 Cfre    g)tagc    in    tfte 

the  footlights,  across  the  immense  Grand  Opera  House 
stage.  Everybody  waited  and  wondered.  Of  course 
the  action  of  the  play  ceased,  the  leading  man  paused 
with  open  mouth,  the  "house"  leaned  forward  expect- 
antly. I  had  the  entire  attention  of  company  and 
audience.  I  half  turned  toward  the  stage,  and  renew- 
ing my  grip  upon  the  dishpan  with  one  hand  and 
melodramatically  waving  the  other  toward  my  grand- 
mother, remarked  in  a  high,  clear  voice :  "Tudie,  I've 
got  the  dishpan!"  ("Tudie"  being  my  pet  name  for 
her.) 

Of  course,  everyone  roared,  the  company  was  all 
broken  up,  the  audience  howled  and  applauded.  I 
bowed  gravely,  decided  my  "act"  was  about  over, 
turned  and  squeaked  all  the  way  back  to  my  place 
again.  The  play  proceeded  without  further  interrup- 
tion, and  at  the  proper  time  I  made  my  exit  with  the 
others.  Behind  the  scenes  there  was  quite  a  demon- 
stration, all  wished  to  pat  the  head  of  the  "new  lead- 
ing lady,"  so  you  see  my  "debut"  was  a  howling 
success,  at  least.  That  was  the  beginning  of  my  stage 
career  as  a  child.  I  had  notable  seasons  following, 
playing  Timmie,  in  "White  Slave,"  the  Count,  in 
"Siberia,"  Meenie,  in  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  "Little  Lord 
Fauntleroy,"  Nellie,  in  "The  Silver  King,"  and 
Shakespearean  repertoire  with  Robert  Mantell  and 
Mme.  Modjeska.  School  then  intervened  for  several 
years,  and  all  during  that  period  my  one  puzzling 
thought  was  how  was  I  to  re-enter  the  profession  and 
become  a  success  ?  And  the  years  seemed  so  long  until 
I  could  leave  school  and  secure  the  all-desired  start. 
Meantime  I  contented  myself  by  writing  plays,  re- 
hearsing them,  "coaching"  the  boys  and  girls,  and 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 335 

"putting  on"  these  marvelous  productions  with  great 
gusto. 

I  just  passed  sixteen  when  the  all  favorable  op- 
portunity arrived.  A  Brooklyn  theatre  advertised  for 
"twenty-five  extra  ladies,"  and  I  immediately  decided 
to  be  one  of  them  or  die.  Trembling  with  my  au- 
dacity I  took  the  car  for  the  theatre  the  next  morning 
instead  of  for  school,  arriving  at  the  stage  door  breath- 
less and  scared,  and  much  too  early.  About  one 
hundred  girls  had  gathered,  all  chattering  eagerly 
about  this  or  that  engagement,  and  telling  their 
troubles.  I  was  amazed  at  the  familiar  manner  in 
which  they  addressed  one  another  and  the  way  they 
discussed  their  most  private  affairs  aloud.  A  pro- 
longed stare  was  accorded  my  entrance,  also  an  icy 
silence;  then  the  chattering  again  broke  out  worse 
than  before.  I  sat  and  waited,  feeling  again  the  old 
delight  remembered  when  a  child,  of  the  dark  vast 
"house,"  the  sets  of  scenery,  the  hustling  workmen,  the 
"smelly"  wonderful  odor  of  the  grease-paint  and  the 
theatre!  Suddenly  there  was  a  lull — that  the  man- 
ager had  arrived  was  evident.  There  was  a  hurried 
scrambling  to  get  in  line,  a  few  suppressed  giggles  and 
much  surreptitious  powdering  of  noses  and  rearrang- 
ing of  hair.  The  important  personage  loomed  into 
view,  passed  the  line  slowly,  taking  mental  note  of 
each  one's  attractions,  likewise  shortcomings.  I  felt 
much  as  a  slave  must  have  in  the  olden  times  being 
up  for  sale,  and  bought  for  so  many  sheckels.  The 
manager  had  now  reached  the  girl  next  to  me ;  I  knew 
my  turn  had  almost  come ;  my  heart  was  in  my  mouth. 
He  had  come  to  me,  he  was  looking  at  me  hard;  I 
clenched  my  hands  hard  and  tried  to  look  uncon- 


336 C6e    %tage    in    tfte 

earned;  it  meant  so  much  to  me!  So  much!  He 
waved  me  off,  remarking  briefly,  "Too  little  and  too 
young,"  and  passed  on  down  the  line.  I  retired  to  a 
pile  of  scenery  at  the  rear  of  the  stage,  seating  myself. 
I  repeated  bitterly,  "Too  little  and  too  young!" 
Always  the  same  old  cry;  no  one  to  give  the  great 
first  lift  which  meant  so  much.  Would  I  always  be 
too  young?  I  must  get  over  that  difficulty  some  time, 
I  pondered.  Meantime  the  manager  continued  the 
work  of  selecting,  discarding,  considering,  while  my 
wounded  feelings  refused  to  be  soothed.  I  could  not 
believe  that  those  girls  would  be  any  better  actresses 
than  myself,  once  were  I  given  the  chance. 

The  manager  shouted,  "All  clear!"  and  was  starting 
to  rehearse  the  selected  people  when  he  spied  me.  "I 
thought  you  were  told  you  weren't  needed,"  he  called 
over,  without  ceremony.  "You  did,"  I  responded  with 
all  the  dignity  possible  with  all  those  eyes  upon  me, 
"but  I  just  thought  you  might  change  your  mind." 

"It  isn't  changed,"  he  answered  gruffly.  "We  don't 
allow  strangers  during  rehearsals;  you'll  have  to  go." 
So  go  I  did,  while  all  those  detestable  girls  giggled  at 
my  discomfiture  and  my  forced  exit. 

Outside  the  door  I  hesitated  again.  Oh,  it  did 
seem  so  unfair!  To  be  cast  out  when  one  was  only 
longing  for  the  one  great  chance!  I  could  hear  the 
manager's  agitated  voice  through  the  door,  the  noise 
and  the  excitement  I  so  dearly  loved,  the  men  and 
women  trying  to  play  the  scene  as  he  wished  it  played. 
My  interest  and  anxiety  grew.  Under  cover  of  the 
noise  I  slipped  onto  the  stage  again  and  hid  there 
behind  a  scene.  The  super-master  was  going  over 
and  over  the  situation,  vainly  trying  to  put  some  life, 


Ctoentietft    Centurg 337 

some  feeling  into  the  would-be  actresses  before  him. 
It  was  a  mob  scene,  and  he  had  "tried  out"  girl  after 
girl  to  be  a  leader  of  the  mob,  only  to  wave  her  back 
into  the  "ranks"  again,  and  "try  out"  another  with 
the  same  result. 

"Oh,  wake  up!"  he  roared.  "Don't  go  to  sleep! 
You're  after  this  man's  blood,  remember!  You  hate 
him,  he  has  done  you  all  an  injury — now  yell,  howl! 
You're  going  to  murder  him!  Now  all  try  it  again!" 
The  last  "leader"  he  had  selected  came  forward,  and 
with  a  Delsarte  gesture  of  her  hand,  waved  one  flabby 
fist  aimlessly  in  the  air,  and  in  a  nice  five  o'clock  tea 
manner,  and  a  quite  conversational  tone,  remarked: 
"Oh,  dear!  oh,  horror!  We  hate  him!  Let  us 
murder  him!"  and  stepped  back  again  in  a  real  lady- 
like and  refined  manner,  which  was  the  despair  of  the 
stage  manager  and  super-master. 

He  mopped  his  perspiring  brow  in  disgust.  "Great 
Scott!"  he  groaned;  "isn't  there  someone  here  with 
some  animation  who  can  lead  this  bunch  an*  make 
'em  act?" 

"Yes,  I  can,"  was  my  seemingly  calm  announce- 
ment, as  I  stepped  forth  from  my  hiding  place.  The 
girls  glared,  but  the  manager  grinned.  "You  here 
yet?"  he  demanded.  I  nodded,  silently  beseeching  the 
exhausted  perspiring  victim  to  just  give  me  a  chance. 
He  arose.  "You  can't  be  much  worse  than  they  are," 
was  his  flattering  comment.  "Start  in  and  let's  see 
what  you  can  do.  Now  all  together  once  more — 
begin!"  And  I  did.  I  howled  until  hoarse  and 
breathless.  I  screamed  and  yelled,  hurling  maledic- 
tions upon  the  head  of  him  we  hated.  My  hair  came 
down  in  the  scuffle,  my  clothes  were  soiled  and  torn. 


338 Cfre   Stage   in    tfte 

In  the  wild  struggle  where  I  was  seized,  I  fought  and 
kicked  and  scratched  my  captor  until  exhausted  and 
worn  out,  and  the  stage  was  one  mass  of  howling 
Revolutionists.  I  had  "waked  them  up."  I  was  "all 
in,"  but  what  cared  I?  For  the  manager  had  pro- 
nounced me  engaged,  and  I  was  to  be  "a  real,  live, 
honest-to-goodness,  grown-up  actress!" 

Well,  that  was  the  beginning.  Several  weeks  with 
this  company  were  a  good  start,  and  I  learned  many 
things.  Then  came  small  parts  with  Sir  Henry  Irving, 
Julia  Marlowe  and  Viola  Allen.  Larger  roles  fol- 
lowed with  Joseph  Jefferson,  Sr.,  Robert  Mantell, 
Richard  Mansfield,  Grace  George  and  others.  I  then 
accepted  a  musical  engagement  by  way  of  variety,  and 
then  followed  my  vaudeville  sketch  for  a  season.  Dur- 
ing the  late  Spring  of  1907,  while  "resting,"  my  vaude- 
ville partner  (the  late  Mable  Cranley,  of  Faversham's 
company,  a  fine  young  woman  and  an  excellent  act- 
ress) suggested  that  I  fill  in  a  few  days  playing  for 
motion  pictures.  Applied  to  the  American  Vitagraph 
Company  and  was  "tried  out."  Proving  acceptable  I 
spent  many  pleasant  weeks  playing  before  the  camera. 
It  was  new  and  interesting  work  to  me,  proving  thor- 
oughly enjoyable  and  full  of  novelty. 

I  was  only  engaged  by  the  day  then,  with  others,  as 
that  was  before  the  stock  company  motion  picture 
era  had  begun. 

In  the  Fall  (October,  1907)  I  was  fully  prepared  to 
go  abroad  with  an  Italian  pantomime  company,  play- 
ing the  role  of  an  Italian  street  gamin  especially 
written  for  me.  It  was  a  splendid  part,  and  during 
rehearsals  I  reveled  in  it.  Everything  was  prepared 
when  Mr.  Smith,  of  the  Vitagraph  Company,  asked 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 339 

me  to  give  up  my  European  engagement,  and  become 
a  permanent  member  of  the  company.  I  did  so,  and 
was  the  first  leading  woman  in  America  to  the  first 
motion  picture  stock  company  in  the  business. 

Then  there  were  seven  men  connected  with  it.  The 
firm  (Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Blackton),  one  stage  direc- 
tor, two  actors,  one  property  man,  and  a  scenic 
artist.  Now  there  are,  besides  the  firm,  ten  directors, 
about  sixty  performers,  eight  property  men,  eight 
scenic  artists  and  six  interior  studios  (or  stages)  where 
formerly  there  was  one. 

Including  the  office,  wardrobe  and  scenario  depart- 
ment, developing  and  printing  rooms,  film  and  property 
rooms,  there  are  now  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
people  employed.  It  has  been  most  interesting  to 
me  to  see  the  small  place  grow  into  the  tremendous 
enterprise  it  now  is.  And  all  in  less  than  five  years! 
It  seems  hardly  credible.  I  have  played  nearly  a  thou- 
sand roles  before  the  camera,  and  have  loved  them  all. 
That  versatility  is  a  player's  greatest  asset  in  this 
profession  can  be  imagined  from  the  following  roles  I 
have  been  fortunate  enough  to  be  successful  with: 

Francesca,  in  "Francesca  da  Rimini,"  the  English 
slavey  in  "Davy  Jones"  series;  Topsy,  in  "Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin";  Juliet,  in  "Romeo  and  Juliet";  the 
Old  Mother,  in  "A  Dixie  Mother";  Lucy  Manette,  in 
"Tale  of  Two  Cities";  Jessica,  in  "Merchant  of 
Venice";  Elaine,  in  "Launcelot  and  Elaine";  the 
woman,  in  "Jealousy,"  and  wives,  sweethearts  and 
boy  parts  innumerable.  The  latter  I  am  particularly 
fond  of. 

Have  nearly  been  burned  several  times  while  doing 
some  very  trying  "fire  scenes" — fell  once  in  an  airship, 


340 Cfre    g>tage    in    tfte 

been  thrown  from  a  couple  of  horses,  and  had  to  fall 
several  feet  into  a  trap  while  portraying  Amy  Robsart, 
in  "Kenilworth."  Then  young  girls  write  me  to  please 
place  them  with  our  company,  as  "motion  picture  work 
is  so  easy!" 

There  are  many  feats  of  danger  connected  with  the 
business,  for  unlike  the  stage,  dangerous  scenes  are 
not  "faked,"  but  very  real  and  exciting.  The  most 
serious,  or  what  might  have  been  the  most  serious 
feat  I  ever  accomplished  from  a  dangerous  standpoint, 
was  jumping  out  of  a  rowboat  into  the  ocean,  and 
unable  to  swim  a  stroke.  It  happened  thusly:  It  was 
long  before  I  was  engaged  permanently  when  the 
director  'phoned  me  that  they  wanted  a  young  woman 
to  fall  from  a  boat  into  the  water  at  Brighton  Beach. 
He  explained  that  the  young  woman  must  be  nicely 
dressed  in  white  gown,  white  hat,  shoes,  parasol,  etc., 
in  short,  would  I  do  it?  I  told  him  yes.  Forthwith 
after  arraying  myself  in  my  best  white  bib  and  tucker, 
presented  myself  at  the  Vitagraph  studio.  My  ap- 
pearance having  been  approved  by  both  the  firm  and 
director,  Mr.  Blackton  said:  "How  good  a  swimmer 
are  you,  Miss  Turner?"  "Oh,"  I  remarked  quite 
casually,  "I  don't  swim  at  all,  never  been  in  the 
water,  in  fact."  The  three  of  them  gazed  upon  me 
much  as  they  would  examine  a  harmless  lunatic  at 
short  range — a  lunatic,  but  still  a  harmless  one. 

"I'm  not  a  bit  afraid,"  I  persisted,  "so  don't  be 
alarmed — I'll  get  along  very  nicely."  There  was  much 
argument,  the  three  against  one,  but  I  finally  pre- 
vailed and  we  sallied  forth  to  Brighton  Beach  to  do 
the  scene.  I  was  rowed  far  out  from  shore,  and  when 
a  handkerchief  was  waved  to  me  from  the  camera—. 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  341 

the  signal — I  promptly  stood  up  in  the  boat,  ap- 
parently lost  my  footing  and  fell  over  backward,  head 
first,  in  the  coldest  and  saltiest  water  it  has  ever 
been  my  pleasure  (?)  to  know.  Down,  down  I  went 
— it  seemed  endless,  until  suddenly  I  felt  myself  rising 
once  more  to  the  surface.  The  three  swimmers  who 
were  to  rescue  me  were,  as  yet,  nowhere  near  me,  so 
as  I  was  supposed  to  be  drowning,  the  only  thing  to 
do  was  to  go  down  a  second  time,  which  I  did.  Upon 
rising  again  I  was  promptly  seized  by  one  of  the 
swimmers,  who  had  at  last  reached  me.  We  all  swam 
(or  rather,  they  did,  towing  me),  back  to  shore,  where 
I  blessed  my  rescuers,  and  thanked  them  in  a  truly 
touching  but  very  moist  scene. 

Everyone  said  that  I  took  an  awful  chance;  suppose 
it's  true,  but  at  any  rate,  have  lived  to  tell  it,  and  was 
on  hand  for  more  work  the  next  day. 

Another  time  was  lashed  to  a  mast,  set  afloat  in 
the  ocean,  supposed  to  be  dead  and  clasping  my  baby 
(a  dummy)  to  my  apparently  pulseless  breast.  And 
people  "stormed"  about  on  the  beach,  demanding  that 
the  poor  ill-treated  exposed  baby  be  brought  out  of 
the  cold  and  wet  immediately! 

The  public  has  been  more  than  kind  to  me,  and  I 
take  this  occasion  to  thank  the  millions  of  friends  I 
have  made  all  over  the  world,  through  the  marvelous 
medium  of  the  camera,  for  their  splendid  support, 
their  interest  and  encouragement. 

The  many  kind  letters  received  from  them  are  al- 
ways a  source  of  infinite  wonder  and  delight  to  me, 
a  constant  incentive  to  give,  as  indeed  I  always  have, 
the  very  best  there  is  in  me. 

The  courtesy  of  the  Vitagraph  firm  always  accorded 


342  _  Cfte    §>tage    in    tfre 

me  will  ever  make  my  labors  for  them  a  sincere  pleas- 
ure. I  take  a  wonderful  pride  in  their  splendid  friend- 
ship for  me,  and  the  best  work  I  can  ever  do  will 
never  be  quite  good  enough  either  for  them  or  for 
my  public. 

FLORENCE  E.  TURNER. 


If  new  volumes  of  stage  reminiscences  are  to  come 
forth  in  the  near  future  it  is  surely  due  to  the  increased 
interest  in  this  class  of  literature,  and  it  is  well  that 
some  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  best  qualified  for 
such  efforts  should  be  provided  with  incentive  to  write 
their  memoirs.  I  can  think  of  no  one  contemplating 
a  work  of  this  character  from  whom  so  much  may  be 
anticipated  as  from  the  effort  of  Henry  Clay  Barnabee, 
for  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  know  the  author  in- 
timately, and  I  am  able  to  promise  the  thousands  who 
will  include  the  Barnabee  memoirs  in  their  libraries,  a 
treat  such  as  may  come  once  in  a  generation.  Barna- 
bee's  stage  career  alone  would  provide  material  for  a 
voluminous  work,  while  the  halcyon  days  of  the  old 
"Boston  Ideals"  and  the  dear  old  Bostonians,  will 
prove  a  welcome  theme,  but  the  readers  of  the  Barna- 
bee work  have  much  more  to  expect,  for  "the  grand 
old  man  of  comic  opera"  comes  from  one  of  the  oldest 
Colonial  families. 

Though  the  stage  and  its  people  are  the  vital  theme 
of  the  forthcoming  volume,  the  early  chapters  are  to 
treat  of  New  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  and 
even  go  still  further  back.  In  the  preparation  of  this 
interesting  volume  Mr.  Barnabee  has  been  very  for- 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 343 

tunate  in  securing  the  co-operation  of  Mr.  George  Leon 
Varney,  a  distinguished  writer,  who,  in  his  home  in 
Wisconsin,  is  preparing  the  copjr  for  the  publishers 
from  the  Barnabee  notes. 


344  Cfte^tageintfte 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


THE  ELECTRICAL  SIDE  OF  THE  THEATRE 

The  modern  advancement  in  the  perfection  of  the 
visual  element  of  theatrical  production,  especially  in 
performances  of  an  operatic  or  spectacular  nature,  has 
contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  public's  enthu- 
siastic liking  for  the  stage.  Audiences  are  captivated 
by  the  marvelously  realistic  reproduction  of  natural 
phenomena  in  form  and  motion.  The  theatre-going 
public  senses  the  greatest  pleasurable  emotions  when 
it  sees  action  delineated  in  a  realistic  atmosphere;  its 
attention  follows  easily,  animatedly  the  unfolding  of 
the  play  when  the  imagination  is  not  distracted  by 
grotesquely  inadequate  scenic  accompaniment.  Real- 
ity is  the  thing.  Even  the  mint  in  the  Colonel's  break- 
fast julep  must  be  real  mint. 

In  the  striving  for  realism  through  the  refinement  of 
representation  that  there  might  result  a  harmony  of 
the  whole,  electricity  and  electrical  devices  have  played 
a  most  important  part.  It  is  only  through  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  electrical  engineer  with  the  manager,  play- 
wright, actor  and  artist  that  Shakespeare's  desire,  "To 
hold,  as  'twere,  a  mirror  up  to  Nature,"  has  been 
brought  to  its  present  excellent  consummation. 

Naturally,  the  stage  of  a  playhouse  is  the  cynosure 
of  expectant  eyes,  and  here  both  thought  and  labor 
have  been  largely  concentrated.  Electricity  with  its 


Ctoentietft    Centurp  345 

wide  adaptability  lends  itself  to  forms  of  portrayal 
totally  new  in  their  variety  and  beauty.  Through  this 
medium  have  been  evolved  many  of  the  elaborate  and 
complicated  displays  which  characterize  numerous 
modern  productions,  with  their  wide  diversity  of  ef- 
fects obtained,  rapid  changes  of  settings  and  furnish- 
ings, and  vivid  depiction  brought  out  by  swiftly  chang- 
ing color  schemes.  With  a  simplicity  that  hides  the 
intricacy  of  mechanical  detail,  natural  phenomena  are 
simulated  in  the  reproduction  of  scenery,  sound  and 
light  by  means  of  electrical  apparatus  with  a  remark- 
able accuracy  of  form,  color  and  motion,  illusion  of 
relief,  and  verisimilitude.  American  Electric  Art,  if 
it  may  be  so  termed,  is  surely  exemplified  in  its  high- 
est development  as  the  servant  of  the  Drama. 

But  the  great  progress  made  through  electrical 
achievements  in  staging  vividly  to-day  the  big  pro- 
ductions, as  they  are  called,  has  been  attained  only 
after  the  solution  of  many  difficult  problems  by  thor- 
ough study  of  the  requirements  and  repeated  experi- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  scientific  and  engineering 
forces  of  a  company  like  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  has  developed  and  perfected  many  of  the 
finest  electric  appliances  for  the  theatre  now  in  com- 
mon use. 

It  is  not  so  many  years  back  that  the  revolution  in 
imitative  art  on  the  stage  was  begun.  Conventional 
methods  almost  from  the  time  of  Shakespeare  down, 
which  either  fell  far  short  of  representing  the  original 
or  exaggerated  it  absurdly  or  fantastically,  were  grad- 
ually relegated  to  the  storehouse  like  discarded  proper- 
ties, doomed  for  the  most  part  never  again  to  make  an 
appearance. 

The  make  or  break  of  a  scene  often  depends  on  the 


346 Cfte    g)tage    in    tjje 

distribution  of  the  stage  lighting.  As  if  pushing  at 
once  to  the  van,  electric  illumination,  the  first  inno- 
vation, was  ushered  to  the  front;  electric  footlights, 
then  borderlights  and  strip  lights  appeared  in  the 
proscenium.  These  lights  are  also  adaptable  for  sus- 
pension in  the  flies.  Usually  they  have  independent 
control  at  the  switchboard,  so  that  any  angle  of  the 
stage  may  be  instantly  lighted  or  obscured.  Often 
the  scenic  value  of  many  of  the  best  plays  is  so  en- 
hanced by  the  skillful  manipulation  of  such  lights  that 
the  striking  effects  secured  play  no  small  part  in  merit- 
ing the  enthusiastic  approval  of  the  public  and  the 
critics. 

There  is  something  in  human  nature  that  responds 
to  the  geniality  of  light,  and  in  many  instances  people 
may  be  attracted  to  a  particular  theatre  by  sheer  force 
of  brilliant  illumination.  Thus  the  attention-compel- 
ing  value  of  the  exterior  of  the  playhouse  has  been 
greatly  augmented  by  bright  electric  lighting  and  signs 
announcing  stars.  The  same  truth  holds  in  the  in- 
terior, where  incandescent  lamps  have  been  employed 
extensively;  and  since  the  introduction  of  the  recent 
metal  filament  lamps,  notably  the  Mazda,  greatly  im- 
proved light  has  been  obtained  with  much  less  cur- 
rent. The  new  vertical  carbon  flame  arc  lamp  pro- 
duces a  flood  of  dazzling  golden  light  and  finds  a  place 
in  the  exterior  lighting  scheme.  In  many  instances  it 
has  been  applied  successfully  to  the  lighting  of  foyers 
and  auditoriums ;  although,  in  general,  this  service  can 
better  be  rendered  by  the  intensified  arc  lamp,  which, 
besides  dispersing  light  approaching  daylight  nearest 
of  any  illuminant  extant,  readily  lends  itself  to  artistic 
designs  and  the  use  of  opalescent  glass  for  aesthetic 
diffusion  of  light.  Naturally,  the  entire  lighting  sys- 


Ctoentietft    Centttrg 347 

tern,  including  the  red  exit  lights,  is  under  group  or 
sectional  control. 

When  an  actor  springs  into  the  limelight,  a  "star" 
is  nurtured  under  the  kindly  rays  of  the  spot  light. 
Furthermore,  through  this  lens  arc  lamp,  an  otherwise 
obscure  picture  looms  up  in  distinct  or  elaborate  out- 
line of  color  and  borrowed  detail;  the  brush  of  the 
artist  is  completely  transformed  by  the  work  of  the 
electrician,  and  the  art  of  the  player  is  given  an  ade- 
quate atmosphere  for  fitting  artistic  expression. 
Earlier  lamps  of  this  kind  were  often  guilty  of  serious 
distortion  of  form;  but  experts  in  optics  have  now 
rectified  lenses  by  improving  their  curves,  have  spaced 
them  accurately,  and  have  balanced  their  divergencies 
in  refractive  and  dispersive  quality.  The  iris  shutter, 
designed  to  fit  standard  lens  lamps,  frequently  height- 
ens the  effect  by  enlarging  or  reducing  the  spot  to  the 
exact  size  desired  on  the  screen  or  scenery.  The  light 
may  be  projected  at  any  angle  from  the  upper  gal- 
leries, the  flies,  or  with  vertical  rays  from  under  the 
stage,  as  in  the  case  of  the  serpentine  dance.  Ap- 
paratus suitable  for  portraiture,  interiors  or  land- 
scapes may  be  chosen,  and  play  pictures  with  a  verit- 
able semblance  of  natural  beauty  and  grandeur  made 
to  move  with  charming  sequence  before  the  view  of 
the  audience. 

The  interchangeable  color  effects,  so  essential  to 
the  successful  staging  of  modern  plays,  are  largely 
the  result  of  the  flood  lamp,  handled  from  any  obscure 
part  of  the  stage.  The  whole  stage  may  be  enveloped 
with  a  flood  of  light  by  this  lamp — the  warm,  glowing, 
reddish-yellow  light  of  sunset,  or  the  cold,  weird,  blu- 
ish light  of  moonlight. 

No   part   of   the   electrical   equipment   within   the 


348 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

theatre  is  more  necessary  than  the  dimmers.  This 
apparatus  controls  the  entire  illuminating  and  decora- 
tive scheme  of  the  playhouse,  both  on  the  stage  and 
in  the  auditorium.  They  are  built  upon  the  unit  sys- 
tem and  consist  of  a  series  of  plates  which  embody 
resistance  elements.  The  illusion  of  the  advance  of 
dawn,  creeping  slowly  over  the  foothills  and  giving 
birth  to  the  morning,  or  the  retreat  of  the  day,  as  the 
light  mellows  and  gradually  steals  away  in  twilight 
and  dusk  at  evening,  are  simulated  with  wonderful 
likeness  and  entrancing  effect  by  these  devices,  fre- 
quently in  conjunction  with  the  flood  lamp. 

For  making  connections  at  various  points  of  the 
stage  there  are  numerous  accessories,  many  of  them 
portable  and  all  adapted  to  assist  in  making  rapid 
changes.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  portable 
plug  box,  or  "spider,"  having  a  number  of  receptacles 
for  the  insertion  of  several  plugs  attached  to  wiring, 
which  may  lead  to  various  parts  of  the  stage  in  dif- 
ferent settings ;  floor  pockets  and  wall  pockets  for  mak- 
ing connections  to  operate  spot  lamps,  flood  lamps  or 
motion  picture  machines;  interchangeable  plugs,  pin 
plug  connectors,  etc. 

Moving  picture  machines  are  operated  by  direct  cur- 
rent, because  it  delivers  a  clearer,  whiter  and  steadier 
light  on  the  screen  with  a  minimum  number  of  amperes 
in  the  arc.  Yet  even  where  direct  current  is  available, 
often  it  can  be  used  only  at  high  cost  because  of  heavy 
rheostatic  losses.  By  use  of  a  mercury  arc  rectifier 
set,  alternating  current  may  be  changed  to  direct,  and 
the  better  operating  results  secured  at  the  lower  cost. 

The  mechanical  appliances  that  have  been  intro- 
duced on  the  stage  are  almost  legion.  Many  of  these 
have  bee4i  arranged  for  operation  by  power  from  eleo 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 349 

trie  motors.  Curtain  hoists  are  now  driven  in  this 
manner.  One  has  but  to  witness  a  production  in  the 
Hippodrome  to  realize  the  vast  amount  of  intricate 
mechanism  that  enters  into  the  business  of  spectacular 
entertainment,  where  electricity  and  electric  power 
solely  have  made  possible  many  of  the  astounding  ef- 
fects obtained. 

In  passing,  I  should  not  fail  to  point  out  a  few  of 
the  little  electric  servants  of  the  theatre.  In  the 
dressing-room  there  is  the  electric  cosmetic  heater; 
the  electric  glue  pot  for  use  on  the  stage  in  repairing 
scenery  and  elsewhere;  the  portable  electric  luminous 
radiator,  which  may  be  placed  in  dressing-rooms  or 
box  offices  during  periods  when  the  regular  heating 
equipment  is  not  in  operation. 

One  of  the  most  recently  developed  and  important 
adjuncts  for  the  theatre  is  the  ozonator.  It  represents 
the  concrete  result  of  investigations  and  experiments 
extending  over  a  period  of  years,  and  its  purpose  is  to 
deodorize  and  sterilize  the  atmosphere  in  an  audi- 
torium, extirpating  smoke  and  foul  air.  The  essential 
factors  comprise  a  transformer  to  supply  voltage  of  a 
value  sufficiently  high  to  produce  ozone  when  it  is 
applied  to  the  generating  units.  Above  the  trans- 
former rests  the  ozonizer  proper.  This  consists  of  a 
number  of  glass  tubes,  the  outside  of  which  have  a 
metallic  coating  and  through  the  inside  of  which, 
separated  therefrom  by  a  small  air  gap,  is  placed  an 
aluminum  tube. 

One  high  voltage  lead  from  the  transformer  is  con- 
nected to  the  outer  coatings  of  the  glass  tubes  and  the 
other  to  the  inner  aluminum  tubes.  When  the  voltage 
is  applied,  a  violet  electrical  discharge  takes  place 
between  the  inner  side  of  the  glass  and  the  aluminum 


350 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfre 

tube  and  changes  the  oxygen  into  ozone.  The  small 
but  powerful  centrifugal  blower  mounted  on  the  top 
of  the  case  furnishes  air  to  the  ozone  chamber;  i.e., 
through  the  generating  units  and  the  screen  and  so 
into  the  auditorium,  thus  incuring  a  complete  circula- 
tion of  ozonized  air  throughout  the  house. 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 351 

POSTSCRIPT 

Vaudeville  Situation  Clarified 

In  the  various  chapters  devoted  to  the  careers  of 
Messrs.  Keith,  Albee  and  Murdock  the  writer  has 
dwelt  on  the  mode  of  business  procedure  of  these 
gentlemen,  wherein  they  avoid  publicity  until  all  that 
is  aimed  at  is  achieved.  While  the  gentlemen  were  at 
work  on  their  "Checkerboard"  the  writer  watched 
the  game  with  confidence  that  the  interests  of  the  gen- 
tlemen composing  "the  United  Booking  Offices"  were 
too  safely  guarded,  and  the  men  themselves  too 
strongly  intrenched  to  permit  of  any  "war"  such  as 
has  been  expected.  For  several  months  the  daily 
press  throughout  the  country  has  chronicled  the  vari- 
ous phases  of  this  unique  situation,  but  the  facts  are 
simple  enough. 

Once  more  the  conservatism  of  B.  F.  and  Paul 
Keith,  the  persistency  of  Edward  F.  Albee  and  the 
manipulative  genius  of  J.  J.  Murdock  have  prevailed, 
and  the  men  who  have  labored  so  intelligently  to  ele- 
vate and  systematize  the  vaudeville  business  in  this 
country  are  now  truly  in  absolute  harmony. 

It  may  be  stated  at  the  outset  that  the  consumma- 
tion of  this  latest  and  most  momentous  "deal"  means 
the  end  of  all  efforts  to  extend  the  Orpheum  Circuit 
east  of  Chicago,  and  the  Palace  Theatre,  now  in  the 
course  of  erection  at  Forty-seventh  Street  and  Broad- 
way, will  be  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Keith — if  vaude- 
ville is  given  on  its  stage. 


352 Cfre    g)tage    in    tfre 

B.  F.  Keith  has  purchased  the  Percy  G.  Williams 
circuit  of  vaudeville  theatres  in  New  York,  and  by  the 
consummation  of  a  deal  with  Messrs.  Meyerfeld  and 
Beck  of  the  Orpheum  circuit,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Kohl  of 
Chicago  and  Max  Anderson  of  New  York  has  clari- 
fied the  vaudeville  situation  and  brought  about  the 
biggest  combination  of  interests  known  in  theatricals. 
It  involves  millions  of  dollars  and  by  the  purchase  of 
interests  in  each  others'  houses  East  and  West  prac- 
tically makes  a  gigantic  combination  of  all  the  high- 
class  vaudeville  houses  of  the  country.  In  bringing 
this  about,  Mr.  Keith,  with  his  associates,  E.  F.  Albee, 
A.  P.  Keith  and  John  J.  Murdock,  come  into  complete 
control  of  the  high-class  vaudeville  situation  as  far 
west  as  Chicago.  The  theatres  purchased  by  Mr. 
Keith  and  his  associates  have  a  valuation  of  about 
$4,000,000.  The  profit  to  Mr.  Williams  being  about 
$1,250,000.  West  of  Chicago  the  Orpheum  circuit, 
under  the  direction  of  Morris  Meyerfeld  and  Martin 
Beck,  will  have  control. 

During  the  past  few  months  there  have  been  innu- 
merable rumors  in  regard  to  the  vaudeville  situation 
and  the  disposition  of  the  Williams  theatres  in  New 
York.  The  Williams  houses  include  the  Colonial  The- 
atre, Broadway  and  Sixty-second  Street;  the  Alham- 
bra,  Seventh  Avenue  and  126th  Street;  the  Bronx 
Theatre;  the  Orpheum  Theatre,  Brooklyn;  the  Green- 
point  Theatre,  the  Bushwick,  the  Crescent  and  the 
Gotham — eight  theatres  in  all — the  last  two  being  at 
present  devoted  to  stock. 

It  was  generally  understood  in  theatrical  circles  that 
Mr.  Williams  was  about  to  dispose  of  his  theatres,  but 
until  now  the  name  of  the  actual  purchaser  was  not 


MAY   BUCKLEY 


LILLIAN    SHAW 


SIR   EDWARD    MOSS,   J.P.D.L. 

A    Trio  of  Vaudeville  Artists  and  Two   Well-Known  Managers 


RICHARD  HYDE 
Of  Hyde  &  Behman 


Ctoentietft    Centtttg 353 

given  out  officially;  in  fact,  it  was  only  recently  that 
Mr.  Keith's  name  was  mentioned  at  all,  notwithstand- 
ing that  negotiations  were  begun  in  Miami,  Fla.,  where 
Mr.  Keith  spent  the  winter,  many  weeks  ago.  In  tak- 
ing over  the  New  York  theatres  he  has  associated 
with  him  Mrs.  C.  F.  Kohl  of  Chicago  and  Max  Ander- 
son of  New  York,  and  his  associate  vaudeville  man- 
agers in  the  East,  James  H.  Moore  of  Detroit,  M.  Shea 
of  Buffalo,  Harry  Davis  of  Pittsburgh,  and  Messrs. 
Diment  and  Duffield  of  the  Canadian  circuit,  all  of 
whom  will  be  large  stockholders  in  the  newly  ac- 
quired New  York  holdings.  This  is  the  closest  amal- 
gamation of  interests  that  has  ever  been  attained  by 
the  high-class  vaudeville  managers  of  the  country. 
The  bookings  of  the  B.  F.  Keith  circuit  and  the  Or- 
pheum  circuit,  reaching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean,  will  all  be  done  together  in  the  Putnam 
Building,  New  York,  until  the  new  Palace  Theatre  is 
completed.  It  is  stated  that  the  same  and  even  a  more 
liberal  policy  will  be  adopted  both  in  the  character 
of  the  shows  and  the  remuneration  of  artists.  In  tak- 
ing over  the  Williams  circuit,  no  change  will  be  made 
in  the  personnel  of  these  houses.  Mr.  J.  J.  Maloney, 
Mr.  Williams'  right  hand  man,  is  already  engaged  to 
continue  with  Mr.  Keith. 

The  lawyers  engaged  in  the  transaction  were  Maur- 
ice Goodman,  attorney  for  the  United  Booking  Offices ; 
John  F.  Cronan  of  Boston,  for  Mr.  Keith;  Studin  & 
Sonnenberg  of  55  Liberty  Street,  for  Messrs.  Meyer- 
feld  and  Beck,  and  Geo.  H.  Trude  of  Chicago,  repre- 
senting Mrs.  Kohl. 

Mr.  E.  F.  Albee,  general  manager  of  the  Keith  in- 
terests, said  in  regard  to  the  new  combination:  "Mr. 
Keith  and  his  associates  and  Messrs.  Meyerfeld  and 


354  Cfte   Stage    itttfte 

Beck  of  the  Orpheum  circuit  have  been  striving  for 
weeks  to  bring  about  an  arrangement  by  which  it 
would  be  possible  to  continue  the  friendly  relations 
that  have  been  enjoyed  for  the  past  twelve  years  be- 
tween Messrs.  Meyerfeld  and  Beck  of  the  West  and 
our  people  of  the  East.  Both  sides  have  worked  dili- 
gently and* earnestly  to  attain  this  end,  and  now  feel 
that  we  have  clarified  the  entire  high-class  vaudeville 
situation  from  coast  to  coast.  The  East  and  West  will 
work  absolutely  together,  having  interests  in  each 
others'  theatres,  and  with  their  booking  offices  all  on 
the  same  floor.  Mr.  Keith  will  have  the  entire  con- 
trol and  management  in  the  East  and  Messrs.  Meyer- 
feld and  Beck  west  of  Chicago.  I  might  say  that  these 
negotiations  were  commenced  the  first  part  of  the 
year  in  Miami,  Fla.,  where  Mr.  Keith  is  staying,  and 
considering  the  magnitude  of  the  deal,  involving  all 
the  large  interests  of  high-class  vaudeville,  including 
nearly  two  hundred  theatres  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  we  were  fairly  successful  in  keeping  it  quiet. 
There  is  no  question  that  the  new  condition  will  be  of 
great  advantage  to  everybody — the  managers,  the  pub- 
lic and  the  artists — as  both  the  East  and  the  West  will 
book  together,  the  artists  will  be  able  to  secure  long 
time  contracts  and  vaudeville  will  see  the  greatest  acts 
the  world  contains.  Both  the  East  and  West  have 
already  worked  on  very  liberal  plans  and  there  will  be 
no  retrenchment.  It  is  the  intention  of  both  Mr.  Keith 
and  Messrs.  Meyerfeld  and  Beck  to  work  along  the 
most  liberal  lines  and  in  the  greatest  harmony.  There 
will  be  no  conflict  in  booking,  in  management  or  in 
territory. 

Mr.  Meyerfeld,  speaking  for  Mr.  Beck  and  himself, 
said:    "It  has  always  been  our  fondest  desire  to  bind 


Ctoentietf)    Centutg 355 

the  East  and  West  together  in  a  more  substantial  way 
than  we  have  previously  worked  under.  The  con- 
summation of  the  deal  just  put  through  by  Mr.  Keith 
and  ourselves  is  a  happy  solution  of  our  difficulties, 
and  is  most  satisfactory  to  us  in  every  respect.  The 
situation  as  far  as  territory  is  concerned  is  no  differ- 
ent than  it  was  before,  but  by  buying  interests  with 
Mr.  Keith  and  in  other  ways  tying  our  interests  more 
closely  together  we  have  accomplished  something  for 
which  we  have  been  working  for  years,  and  the  public 
and  artists  will  reap  the  benefit  as  well  as  ourselves. 
We  are  all  men  who  have  practically  brought  the  high- 
class  vaudeville  business  to  its  present  high  standard, 
both  sides  owning  and  controlling  large  theatrical 
interests  thoroughly  established,  and  we  feel  that  the 
fruit  of  our  labors  during  the  past  thirty  years  have 
been  consummated  by  the  arrangement  we  have  en- 
tered into.  Both  Mr.  Beck  and  myself  feel  that 
it  is  ideal  for  the  future  success  of  vaudeville.  We 
have  all  our  positions  laid  out  and  as  far  as  we  can 
see  nothing  but  good  results  and  harmony  can  pre- 
vail." 

And  now  one  word  about  the  retiring  manager  who, 
in  a  single  decade,  built  up  a  vast  chain  of  high-grade 
theatres,  the  sale  of  which  involving  between  five 
and  six  million  dollars  has  solved  the  most  intricate 
vaudeville  problem  in  amusement  history. 

Percy  Williams  a  little  over  a  decade  ago  came 
modestly  and  inconspicuously  into  the  vaudeville 
arena.  Starting  with  one  small  theatre  in  Brooklyn, 
he  assumed  a  policy  so  aggressive  and  maintained  a 
standard  so  high  that  in  three  years  time  he  became 
the  leader  of  what  was  called  imperial  vaudeville. 

Percy  Williams'  extraordinary  success  was  due  to 


356 Cfte    g>tage    in    tfte 

his  uncompromisable  stand  as  to  the  character  of  the 
programs  offered  in  his  theatres.  The  idea  that  he 
could  present  in  half  a  dozen  theatres  in  Greater  New 
York  a  series  of  weekly  bills  costing  in  each  instance 
from  thirty-five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars,  and 
none  of  these  conflict  was  the  source  of  amazement 
to  all  of  his  colleagues,  but  that  he  prospered  is  best 
shown  by  the  sale  price  and  by  the  known  fact  that  he 
retires  perhaps  the  wealthiest  showman  of  his  time. 

•£   HK  'I* 

With  the  vaudeville  situation  practically  in  the  con- 
trol of  the  master  mind  who  originated  and  refined  it, 
a  figure  of  considerable  importance  looms  up  on  the 
horizon  in  the  person  of  A.  Paul  Keith,  the  son  and 
active  associate  of  the  man  whose  fondest  dream  is 
now  realized. 

Elsewhere  in  this  volume  a  chapter  is  devoted  to 
the  part  likely  to  be  played  in  the  next  generation  of 
the  theatre  by  the  sons  of  our  present-day  theatrical 
magnates,  and  of  these  none  occupy  so  conspicuous  a 
position  as  young  Mr.  Keith,  who,  thoroughly  trained 
through  actual  experience  and  already  a  millionaire  on 
his  own  account,  will  undoubtedly  continue  the  ag- 
gressive policy  of  his  father,  and  one  can  only  con- 
jecture as  to  the  holdings  in  the  Keith  name  a  decade 
hence.  There  is  everything  to  indicate  that  the  day 
is  not  far  off  when  the  Keith  interests  will  represent 
a  valuation  not  far  from  twenty-five  million  dollars. 

But  there  is  one  man  in  this  momentous  deal  whose 
name  is  not  conspicuous,  in  fact  barely  mentioned,  but 
a  man,  nevertheless,  who  is  yet  to  be  reckoned  with. 


28 
o  i 

§1 
351 

8 


Ctoentietft    Centutg 357 

This  man  is  Frederick  F.  Proctor,  and  like  Mr.  Keith, 
he  too  has  a  son  to  whom  the  writer  refers  in  the  chap- 
ter above  referred  to. 

Although  Messrs.  Keith  and  Proctor  are  no  longer 
partners  in  the  chain  of  theatres  they  conduct,  the 
two  are  not  absolutely  separated  and  both  are  officers 
of  the  United  Booking  offices,  while  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Theatre  litigation  is  yet  in  the  courts,  the  present 
status  being  favorable  to  Mr.  Proctor. 

One  must  assume  that  Mr.  Proctor,  being  the  only 
really  important  associate  of  Mr.  Keith  who  did  not 
contribute  to  the  sum  requisite  to  purchase  the  Percy 
Williams  theatres  that  he  was  either  not  invited  to 
do  so  or  else  declined  to  affiliate  himself  with  an  un- 
dertaking so  similar  in  character  to  his  own  present 
enterprises;  but  whichever  of  the  two  reasons  is  true, 
the  fact  remains  that  with  Proctor  in  sole  control  of 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  and  Mr.  Keith  due  to  as- 
sume a  vaudeville  regime  at  the  new  Palace  Theatre, 
there  is  yet  much  need  for  "the  chess  board." 

Undoubtedly  Messrs.  Keith,  Albee  and  Murdock 
fully  realize  the  seriousness  of  this  phase  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  it  is  the  writer's  view  of  a  decidedly  intri- 
cate situation  that  the  new  Palace  Theatre  and  its 
policy  will  provide  the  key  to  the  solution  of  the  final 
problem  in  what  will  go  down  in  history  as  the  great- 
est display  of  showmanship  and  business  acumen  ever 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  amusement  calling. 

If  Mr.  Proctor  is  taken  into  the  big  combine,  assum- 
ing that  he  wishes  the  association,  either  the  Fifth 
Avenue  or  the  new  Palace  Theatre  will  become  a  le- 
gitimate playhouse,  and  the  reader  will  be  enabled  to 
decide  just  which  of  the  two  great  figures  of  modern 


358 Cfte    g)tage    in    tftr 

vaudeville  played  the  best  game  of  chess,  when  it  is 
revealed  finally  just  what  shall  constitute  the  attrac- 
tions in  these  two  theatres  in  the  Fall  of  1912. 

If  Mr.  Proctor  elects  to  remain  independent,  he  is 
not  unprepared  for  the  fray,  possessing  as  he  does 
seven  theatres  in  or  near  New  York,  all  of  which 
could  be  turned  into  high-grade  vaudeville  establish- 
ments over  night.  Moreover,  he  has  a  vast  chain  of 
houses  in  cities  of  moderate  size  that  prosper  amaz- 
ingly, and  at  this  time  is  investing  enormously  in 
building  new  theatres  in  cities  where  he  has  already 
amassed  much  wealth.  But  Mr.  Proctor  did  not  amass 
this  wealth  with  high-grade  vaudeville,  nor  is  it  likely 
that  either  he  or  Mr.  Keith  will  in  their  time  of  life 
indulge  in  a  war  that  will  mean  the  transformation 
of  their  gold-laden  moving  picture  and  "pop"  vaude- 
ville theatres  into  the  less  profitable  usage  that  a  war 
would  necessitate. 

What  is  more  likely  as  this  volume  goes  to  the 
presses  is  an  understanding  between  Messrs.  Keith 
and  Proctor,  in  which  case,  instead  of  additional  high- 
grade  vaudeville  theatres,  it  is  in  line  with  the  con- 
servative policy  of  Mr.  Keith  to  expect  him  to  ulti- 
mately reduce  the  number  of  theatres  where  high- 
grade  vaudeville  is  now  given.  And  the  indefatig- 
able camera  man  may  be  found  to  hold  sway  in  half 
of  the  new  Keith  possessions,  to  the  regret  of  the 
"boomers,"  but  to  the  great  constructive  good  of  the 
vaudeville  situation  as  a  whole,  for  New  York  City 
is  the  seat  of  the  war,  and  the  spectacle  of  all  of  the 
Keith  and  Proctor  theatres  presenting  high-grade 
vaudeville  in  competition,  while  appealing  to  the  art- 
ists, who  always  pray  for  a  war,  would  sound  the  death 


Ctoetttietfr    Centutg 359 

knell  of  the  most  popular  style  of  entertainment  since 
the  beginning  of  time. 

Much  interest  is  aroused  as  a  result  of  the  great 
transaction  by  the  peculiar  position  in  which  the  sev- 
eral hundred  booking  agents  find  themselves,  the  gen- 
eral impression  being  that  the  agent  is  due  to  pass  for 
all  time. 

If  such  a  condition  results  it  will  not  be  because  of 
any  aversion  to  agents ;  but  there  are  agents  and  there 
are  agents  and  the  industry  is  now  in  the  position  pre- 
cisely that  the  ticket  speculators  were  in  when  after 
thirty-five  years  of  toleration  their  numbers  became  so 
large  and  their  behavior  so  insolent  that  because  of 
their  unbearable  conduct  as  a  whole  the  few  respect- 
able members  of  the  craft  had  to  suffer,  and  now  all  are 
without  vocation.  So  it  is  with  the  booking  agents. 
So  long  as  they  were  restricted  as  to  numbers  and 
consisted  of  men  of  reputable  standing,  they  were  a 
necessity  to  the  artist  and  a  help  to  the  manager. 

It  would  be  a  great  pity  if  this  class  of  agents,  some 
of  whom  have  performed  great  service  in  the  uplift 
of  the  field  itself,  should  suffer  a  disaster,  but  with 
the  advent  of  the  motion  picture  craze  and  the  "Pop" 
vaudeville  industry  there  came  brazenly  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  managers  a  body  of  unprofessional  men 
wholly  without  theatrical  training.  Their  insolent 
attitude  when  assuming  their  proprietorship  over  the 
souls  of  the  artists  they  represented  became  so  intol- 
erable that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  "man 
who  buys  the  goods"  would  welcome  the  day  when 
such  undignified  procedure  could  be  ended.  The  real 
booking  agent  is  not  likely  to  pass,  though  it  would 
not  be  surprising  if,  with  the  entire  vaudeville  busi- 


360 C6e    ^tagc    in    tfte 

ness  of  the  country  conducted  from  one  large  office, 
the  potential  figures  at  its  head  will  wish  to  conduct 
their  business  in  privacy. 

It  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  amusement 
calling  would  find  itself  on  a  plane  with  other  large 
business  industries,  hence  it  is  only  natural  that  when 
the  day  came  that  five  or  six  million  dollars  would 
change  hands  in  one  deal,  that  day  would  also  be  a 
menace  for  those  who  assumed  that  theatrical  busi- 
ness men  would  remain  tolerant  of  a  system  wherein 
the  latter  often  were  compelled  to  submit  because  of 
the  constant  fear  of  that  managerial  bugbear,  "oppo- 


STEPHEN    G.    CLOW 
Publisher    of   All    of    Mr.    Grau's    Volumes 


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